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ROOSEVELTIAN FACT AND 
FABLE. Illustrated. i2mo. 200 
pages. Bound in red cloth. Fourth 
edition^ with index, published No- 
vember I, 1 9 10. Price, postpaid, 
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BULL MOOSE TRAILS. 124 

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BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

SUPPLEMENT TO 
" ROOSEVELTIAN FACT AND FABLE" 



BY 

MR^, ANNIE RILET HALE 



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PRICE, SEVENTY-FIVE CENTS 



PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR 

AT 6 WEST 66th STREET 

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Copyright, 1912 

By ANNIE RILEY HALE 

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PREFACE 

When in the compilation of "Rooseveltian Fact 
and Fable," at Washington, D. C, in the Summer 
of 1908, I put into the preamble of Chapter IX — 
entitled, "Roosevelt and the Mothers" — an old 
magazine story written by Lincoln Steffins in 1899, 
I little dreamed that that story — rescued from the 
dust of thirteen years, and carrying Colonel Roose- 
velt's remark when embarking from Cuba, that he 
"felt like a bull moose," — would be the innocent 
means four years later, of affixing a picturesque 
pseudonym to a new political party devoted to the 
public good. Yet such, I understand, is the fact. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER I 

"Showing His Teeth" to General Miles 

(1901) I 

CHAPTER II 

How Roosevelt "Took Panama" in 1903 22 

CHAPTER III 

Roosevelt's Pact with the Mormons 

(1903-4) 41 

CHAPTER IV 

How T. R. Fought the "Bosses" of New 
Mexico (1906-7) 78 

CHAPTER V 

Some Episodes and Sidelights of the 
African Expedition (1909-10) . . 103 



CHAPTER I. 

"showing his teeth" to general miles 

The True Version of a Variously Reported 
Incident 

"I'll show you I've got teeth" — suiting the action 
to the word and lifting a menacing forefinger. 
"I've got teeth, and you shall feel them!" 

The speaker was Theodore Roosevelt, Presi- 
dent of the United States, and the person addressed 
in these savage words was Nelson A. Miles, Com- 
manding General of the United States Army. The 
time was December, 1901 ; the place, the reception 
hall in front of the executive office in the White 
House ; and the audience, an indiscriminate assem- 
blage of senators, congressmen, newspaper men, 
and others. 

The immediate and aggravating cause of this 
presidential explosion was an interview which 
Miles had given to an inquisitive reporter some 
days before in Cincinnati, wherein he had ex- 
pressed his approval of Admiral Dewey's verdict 
— just made public — in the "Schley Court of In- 
quiry," which convened in September, 1901, had 
not concluded its work until December. It will be 
recalled that this Naval Court, called to decide on 



2 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

the merits of the Santiago campaign, was composed 
of three admirals — Dewey, Benham, and Ramsay; 
and that Admiral Dewey, the presiding member of 
the Court, had rendered a verdict at variance with 
the other two. The majority verdict, being re- 
viewed and approved by the Secretary of the Navy, 
was suffered to stand; from it there was no appeal, 
except to the President of the United States, and 
he, when appealed to some weeks later by Admiral 
Schley, agreed with the majority finding. 

At the time General Miles gave the Cincinnati 
interview, however, the President had not rendered 
his decision against Schley; it was not apparent, at 
that stage of the proceedings, that he had had any 
part In the findings of the Naval Court. General 
Mlles's comment, therefore, could not have carried 
any criticism of Roosevelt, save In that peculiar 
Rooseveltian sense wherein he assumed responsibil- 
ity for everything which happened under his ad- 
ministration — except the panic. 

It was soon divulged that the Cincinnati inter- 
view had given deep offence to President Roosevelt 
however, and the Secretary of War was ordered to 
demand an explanation of Miles. It was given in 
the following letter: 

"Sir:— 

"I have the honor to state that my observations 
as substantially reported had no reference to the 
action pending, or otherwise, of a co-ordinate 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 3 

branch of the service. They were merely my per- 
sonal views, based upon matters set forth in various 
publications given to the world, and concerning 
which I conceive there was no impropriety in ex- 
pressing an opinion, the same as any other citizen, 
upon a matter of such public interest. My obser- 
vations were In no sense intended as a criticism of 
a co-ordinate branch of the service, and the state- 
ment that I had no sympathy with the effort to dis- 
parage a distinguished and gallant officer likewise 
had no such reference. 

"Respectfully, 
"(Signed) Nelson A. Miles, 

"Lieut.-General, U. S. A." 

Having dispatched this explanation to the Secre- 
tary of War, General Miles repaired to the White 
House, to make his peace with the President, little 
dreaming what awaited him there. The account 
here given of what occurred is taken first-hand 
from two reliable witnesses who were standing 
quite near the main participants In the scene; and 
who, unless eyes and ears both played them false, 
could not have been mistaken. 

According to these. General Miles was standing 
within a window embrasure, talking to a gentle- 
man, when a stir near the door made him aware 
of the President's entrance. He Immediately 
started toward him with right hand extended ; the 
President quickly thrust his hand behind him, and 



4 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

the General as quickly dropped his — standing at 
attention. The eyes of all those in the room at 
once fastened on the pair, and under this stimulus 
Roosevelt's theatrical sense rose rapidly. His 
wrath was manifested in manner, tone, and sharp 
explosive sentences: "Yes, yes! I wanted to see 
you. I wish you to understand that I will have no 
criticism of my administration from you, or any 
other officer in the Army. Your conduct is worthy 
of censure, sir. You had no business to express an 
opinion," etc., etc. "I have got teeth, and you will 
find that I can show them," shaking his finger in 
the General's face and baring all his dental armo- 
ries. 

Miles's attempted explanation was cut short by a 
repetition of the foregoing — menacing forefinger, 
teeth, and all. Whereupon the old soldier of a 
hundred battles lifted his chest and his chin in 
quiet disdain and allowed his assailant to rave; 
thinking, as he afterward remarked, that "he must 
surely stop presently for lack of breath." Hav- 
ing reached this breathless point, the President 
turned abruptly, and left the Commanding 
General standing in silence amid the gaping 
spectators. 

The following day General Miles received from 
Secretary Root a formal reprimand, which was at 
the same time made pubhc "by the direction of the 
President" : 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 5 

"Lieut.-General Nelson A. Miles, U. S. A. 

"Sir:— 

"Your explanation of the public statement made 
by you is not satisfactory. You are in error if you 
suppose that you have the same right as any other 
citizen to express publicly an opinion regarding of- 
ficial questions pending in the course of military 
discipline. . . • (Here follows a partial quo- 
tation of Army Regulations.) You had no business 
in the controversy, and no right to express an opin- 
ion. Your conduct was in violation of the Regula- 
tions above cited, and you are justly liable to cen- 
sure, which I now express. 

"(Signed) Elihu Root, Secretary of War." 

Had Root quoted the full text of the Army 
Regulations, the irregularity and injustice of this 
"reprimand" would have been manifest to all. 
After waiting a whole month for the President's 
wrath to cool, and willing to forgive much to what 
was popularly supposed to be the "Roosevelt im- 
petuosity," General Miles, carrying a full copy of 
the Army Regulations, again sought the Executive 
presence; and, pointing out the clause suppressed by 
Root, asked Mr. Roosevelt, as a matter of simple 
justice and manly reparation, to order a retraction 
of the reprimand. Roosevelt promised to "think 
about it" ; and, there being no by-standing gallery 
to play to this time, he treated the Commanding 
General with a measure of civility. Needless to 



6 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

recount however, his pondering on the circum- 
stances of the "reprimand" did not result in a re- 
traction. Admissions of error are fatal to one pur- 
posing to establish a habit of infallibility, and the 
closest study of Rooseveltian annals will not dis- 
close any such mollycoddlish indices of weakness 
upon his part. It is "the other fellow" who is mis- 
taken always; never T. R. 

The popular outcry which went up over the land 
at the treatment of General Miles was not without 
its disturbing effect upon the President, however. 
It could not stir him to the nobility of a manly 
confession, but it drove him to his customary shift 
of denial and evasion. This was accomplished 
through the medium of his obedient "cuckoo" flock 
at Washington. 

One dispatch stated: "The President is much 
annoyed by the criticisms appearing in the press on 
his censure of General Miles. While the President 
does not object to honest criticism (oh, no!)^ he 
does not like to be misrepresented. It is now de- 
nied that the scene was as sensational as at first 
reported, though the language used was emphatic. 
. . . It is not believed that the President shook 
his finger in General Miles's face," etc., etc., etc. 

Still another obliging and ingenious correspond- 
ent so worded his report as artfully to lay the 
blame for the whole business upon Secretary Root ! 

The Army and Navy publications of that period, 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 7 

however, were not so sparing of the Roosevelt sen- 
sibilities. The Army and Navy Journal, of Decem- 
ber 28, 1901, said: "By Article 898, of the Army 
Regulations, punishment for light offences is lim- 
ited to the censure of the commanding officer; and 
a reprimand, such as has been administered to Gen- 
eral Miles, can only be administered on the verdict 
of the court-martial ; since it is a distinct and well- 
defined punishment for specially named offences. 
Even a non-commissioned officer is under the pro- 
tection of Article 256, which directs superior offi- 
cers to be cautious in reproving him in the hearing 
of private soldiers. Is it not incumbent that at 
least equal consideration should be shown to the 
Commanding Officer in the presence of his military 
inferiors?" 

The Army and Navy Register, in a January 
(1902) issue, offered this comment: "General 
Miles's assumed views did not justify the severity 
— not to say the brutality — of phraseology adopted 
by the President in the letter signed by Mr. Root; 
and there was no reason for advertising the Execu- 
tive humiliation to which General Miles was so 
crudely and so cruelly subjected. . . . The 
President offended the amenities of official and un- 
official intercourse when he personally rebuked the 
Commanding General while calling at the White 
House. It is not possible to justify that incident, 
notwithstanding the habit which Mr. Roosevelt has 



8 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

contracted of losing his temper. . . . It is 
also undeniable that the President was bound to 
hear an explanation if General Miles had one to 
offer. The latter was not, however, permitted to 
speak in his own behalf, and in the presence of oth- 
ers, who must have wondered at the spectacle. Mr. 
Roosevelt approached General Miles in a manner 
which, without exaggeration, may be described as 
savage." 

Wayne MacVeagh, of Philadelphia, is authority 
for the story that a friend of his, who called at the 
White House quite early on the day of Miles's ill- 
fated visit, found the President still in the hands 
of his barber. His business (some phase of Penn- 
sylvania politics) being urgent, he was admitted to 
the lathered "Presence," and bidden to state his 
case while the barber proceeded with his work. 
This man related that he had not gotten far in the 
statement of his errand when Mr. Roosevelt 
dragged in the Miles misdemeanor, and became so 
furious in his denunciation of Miles, that he broke 
away from his barber, and — one side of his face 
covered with lather — strode angrily up and down 
the room, gesticulating violently; and to the as- 
tounded Pennsylvanian the President declared that 
he would "show his teeth to General Miles!" 

To Senator McComas, of Maryland, who called 
a little later. President Roosevelt uttered a similar 
threat of "showing his teeth to Miles." 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 9 

Yet you may search the newspaper files of that 
period in vain for any mention of the teeth-demon- 
stration, though it was always given in the viva voce 
accounts of the "reprimand" — then, and since — 
which serves to illustrate Roosevelt's phenomenal 
control of the channels of publicity even in the be- 
ginning of his regime. The incident further serves 
to cast an illuminating ray upon the "Roosevelt im- 
pulsiveness," which has become so fixed a portion 
of the popular conception of this illustrious per- 
sonage. 

We have seen how the "teeth-showing" castiga- 
tion had been planned and rehearsed to two previ- 
ous callers. Afterward, despite Miles's plea for 
"sober, second thought"; and despite the Presi- 
dent's promise to consider reparation; General 
Miles became, thenceforth, the object of studied 
slights and petty persecutions at the hands of the 
Roosevelt administration which, beginning with the 
"reprimand" in December, 1901, did not end with 
the "retirement order" in August, 1903. His re- 
quest to be sent to the Philippines in March, 1902, 
was denied, and his plan for ending the war in 
those islands was rejected. 

Later, in the Spring of 1902, it was currently 
rumored in Washington that the President would 
retire Miles more than a year before the legal age 
for his retirement, and would appoint a successor 
to the post of Commanding General. 



10 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

The "cuckoo" press was prompt with Its explana- 
tion : Miles was not harmonious with the Adminis- 
tration; he had opposed Secretary Root's Army Bill 
for the creation of a "General Staff," with a "Chief 
of Staff" who would take the place of the "Com- 
manding General"; and he had indulged some ra- 
ther frank criticisms of the existent order before 
the Senate Committee in charge of the bill. All 
these were capital offences, meriting capital punish- 
ment, and the White House birds chirped forth the 
news that Miles was slated for decapitation. Then 
came a lull in retirement rumors, when presently 
they ceased altogether. Speculation was rife, to 
account for the change; various explanations were 
advanced, some even ascribing the credit to Secre- 
tary Root — he who had been made the scapegoat 
for the reprimand ! The following story, vouched 
for by a high official in Washington, may shed some 
light on the puzzle picture : 

Among those who heard with deep disfavor the 
President's determination to inflict further humili- 
ation upon General Miles was the late Senator 
Hoar, of Massachusetts. Taking with him six 
other Republican senators, leaders like himself of 
"the greatest deliberative body on earth," Senator 
Hoar waited on President Roosevelt, and became 
spokesman for the group. He told the President 
that Miles was a very popular man in Massachu- 
setts, highly esteemed by all classes; that he 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS ii 

(Hoar), though a political opponent, would be 
greatly incensed by a needless affront to a distin- 
guished soldier and patriot; and that there were 
thousands like him in the Bay State who would 
never forgive it. 

Then, with that astute appreciation of human 
motives — in which some have supposed the venera- 
ble savant lacking — Senator Hoar presented the 
argumentum ad hofninem: "This is a shaky year 
for the Republicans of Massachusetts; several con- 
gressional districts are trembling in the balance, 
which this contemplated move of yours against 
Miles would surely make Democratic." 

Mr. Roosevelt listened with a thoughtful air as 
his mind took in the significance of a visit from 
seven Republican senators with one purpose ; then, 
with a psychomotor display of teeth, he replied to 
Senator Hoar: 

"What you say impresses me very deeply. Sen- 
ator. I will consider it most carefully." 

Possibly the reports which began to appear in 
the press in regard to Miles's candidacy for the 
presidency in 1904 impressed Mr. Roosevelt even 
more deeply than the senators' visit, or Hoar's 
words of warning. An Army officer now living in 
Washington overheard a dialogue between two 
White House factotums, wherein one of them af- 
firmed: "Loeb went to him and just told him, if 
he retired General Miles, the Democrats would 



12 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

run Miles against him for the presidency and beat 
him!" 

We do not need to accept this White House gos- 
sip at its full face value, in order to believe that 
other motives than kindly consideration for Gen- 
eral Miles stayed Roosevelt's hand in the retire- 
ment plan. 

In October, 1902, the War Department con- 
sented that General Miles should go to the Philip- 
pines, to inspect the troops and report conditions. 
If they had known what he was going to find, more 
especially if they had known what he was going to 
report, it is most likely the President and Secretary 
Root would have kept him at home, despite the 
great personal relief to themselves to get him out 
of the country for awhile. 

It was not to be supposed, however, that the man 
who had exposed the "embalmed beef" scandal in 
1898 — braving the wrath of corrupt officials — 
would keep silent concerning the mediaeval tortures 
and barbaric cruelties practised by American sol- 
diers upon defenceless Filipinos in 1902. Still less 
would he connive at the scandal in the Commissary 
Department, growing out of the "reconcentration 
order," wherein hundreds of thousands of natives 
were ordered into the towns on fifteen days' notice 
— gathering in such property as they could carry — 
and held there for several months; during which 
time the enterprising heads of the Commissary De- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 13 

partment sold them "second quality rice, and dam- 
aged flour," at profits ranging from 25 to 100 per 
cent. ! 

This Philippines Report submitted by General 
Miles, February 19, 1903, is not exhibited with 
noticeable zest at the War Department, but a copy 
of it may be seen in The Army and Navy Journal 
of May 2, 1903, and the "Anti-Imperialist 
League" at Boston is always pleased to furnish 
copies to applicants. The language of the Report 
is clear and to the point. It does not deal in vague 
generalities; it makes specific charges, names spe- 
cific individuals, and cites the proof. 

The pains taken by Mr. Roosevelt at the time 
the Report was issued to refute the truth of it, by 
trying to produce counter evidence — in which he 
failed — should have served to impress it on his 
memory; but we cannot believe he had it in mind 
when he exhorted the Britishers — in his Guildhall 
speech — to model their government of the Egyp- 
tians upon "My Policy in the Philippines and in 
Panama I" 

Naturally enough, this Philippines Report did 
not tend to improve General Miles's relations with 
Mr. Roosevelt; and when August 8, 1903 — the 
date for the former's legal retirement — arrived, it 
brought the President's opportunity to even the 
score. This date also marked the passing of the 
"Commanding General," as the new order would 



14 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

begin with the installation of the "General 
Staff." 

The office had been created for General Wash- 
ington in 1798. It had been held by such distin- 
guished soldiers as Winfield Scott, George B. Mc- 
Clellan, and Generals Halleck, Grant, Sherman, 
and others. It was bestowed upon General Miles 
by Grover Cleveland in 1895, upon the retirement 
of General Schofield. 

It had been the immemorial custom, in retiring 
these commanding figures in the Army, for the Sec- 
retary of War to issue simultaneously with the re- 
tiring order a formal eulogy — commemorating the 
valiant deeds, public services, and private virtues of 
the retiring officer. Here is an exact duplicate of 
the order issued to General Miles : 

"Washington, Aug. 8, 1903. 

"By direction of the Secretary of War, the retire- 
ment from active service by the President, Aug. 8, 
1903, of Lieut.-General Nelson A. Miles, by op- 
eration of law under the provisions of the Act of 
Congress approved June 20, 1882, is announced. 
Lieut.-General Miles will proceed to his home. The 
travel enjoined is necessary for the public service. 

"By order of the Secretary of War. 

"H. C. CoRBiN, Adj't-General." 

It is said that Secretary Root balked at this crude 
and brutal thrust; and submitted a substitute order 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 15 

which, though not particularly effusive, yet con- 
tained the usual compliments of the conventional 
document; and that Roosevelt tore it in two, and 
curtly ordered the first one to stand. 

To get the full significance of the Miles retiring 
order, let us compare it with that of his immediate 
predecessor, perhaps the least illustrious of the 
commanding generals : 

"Lieut.-General John M. Schofield, having 
reached the age entitling him to relief from active 
military service, is hereby placed upon the retired 
list of the Army. It is with much regret that the 
announcement is made, that the country is thus to 
lose from the command of its Army this distin- 
guished General, who has done so much for its 
honor and efficiency. His gallantry in war chal- 
lenges the admiration of all his countrymen; while 
they will not fail gratefully to remember and ap- 
preciate how faithfully he has served his country 
in times of peace. His career furnishes to the Army 
an example of inestimable value, and should teach 
all our people that the highest soldierly qualities are 
built upon the keenest sense of the obligations of 
good citizenship. 

"By order of the Secretary of War. 

"Geo. D. Ruggles, Adj't-General." 

And what of this man. Nelson A. Miles, whose 
retiring order reads like the curt dismissal of a 



1 6 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

corporal in disgrace? Had he no claim upon the 
country's "grateful recollection"? Just a glance, 
if you please, at his war record — lest we forget, 
and to better appreciate this episode of the Roose- 
velt regime, with its reflex light on the Roosevelt 
character. 

At the age of 22, Miles entered the Federal serv- 
ice in the Civil War, as Captain of the Twenty- 
second Massachusetts Volunteers. Within a year 
he became, successively, Lieutenant-Colonel, and 
Colonel of the Sixty-first New York Infantry. In 
May, 1864, he was made Brigadier-General of 
Volunteers, and in October, 1865, Major-General 
of Volunteers. 

He was twice breveted in one day. At the close 
of the Civil War he went West to fight the Indians, 
entering the Regular Army as Colonel of the For- 
tieth Infantry. In 1880 he again attained the rank 
of Brigadier-General, and that of Major-General 
in 1890. Cleveland appointed him Commanding 
General in 1895, and Congress created him Lieut- 
enant-General in 1900. 

These are his military titles and honors, and here 
are a few of the daring deeds which won them : At 
the Battle of Fredericksburg (1862) Miles com- 
manded the Sixty-fourth New York Volunteers, 
comprising 27 officers and 408 men; three of his 
officers were wounded and 105 of his men killed, 
wounded, or missing; yet he remained a gallant 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 17 

figure on the firing line until he received a severe 
wound in the throat, and even then was forcibly 
restrained from leading one more desperate charge 
on the Confederate breastworks. 

At Chancellorsville, Miles held until wounded — 
it was supposed mortally — a line of abattis and 
rifle-pits against a determined attack of the Con- 
federates, made in two columns on each side of the 
road. He had an important command in the Get- 
tysburg campaign, and in the Mine Run campaign; 
he was actively engaged in the battles of "The Wil- 
derness," and battles around Richmond. At Spott- 
sylvania he led his brigade into the renowned 
"Bloody Angle," and was foremost in the fighting 
before Petersburg; his division led the advance 
from Richmond to Appomatox. In a word, he was 
in every battle fought by the "Army of the Poto- 
mac," except one — which he missed on account of 
a severe wound. He received his commission as 
Brigadier-General in 1864, after every ofScer under 
whom he had served — including Grant, McClellan, 
Burnside, Hooker, Meade, and a dozen others — 
had recommended him to the Secretary of 
War. 

A Southern historian writes thus of Miles: "If 
we except some of the veterans of Napoleon, we 
shall have to go back to the warriors Gibbons tells 
us of, for soldiers who saw as much dangerous serv- 
ice as Miles had seen when completing his twenty- 



1 8 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

sixth year. He was four times wounded — at Fair 
Oaks, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Peters- 
burg. He belonged to the glorious 'Second Corps' 
under Hancock, which was the 'Tenth Legion' of 
the Army; and there was a while that Miles was in 
command of the whole of it — though only a young 
man of twenty-five. No other soldier of that war 
participated In more bloody battles, or sustained 
more grievous wounds than he." 

And this from a Northern authority: "Mlles's 
military record makes that of Lord Roberts, Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the British Army, Insignificant 
by comparison. His service on the plains after the 
Civil War would alone entitle him to high soldierly 
distinction. He practically ended the Indian wars 
in the vast region beyond the Mississippi, which had 
been devastated and terrorized, and opened it up to 
settlement and civilization, for which the legisla- 
tures of five States and Territories accorded him a 
vote of thanks." 

General Sheridan said of Mlles's Indian war- 
fare: "It was the most comprehensive and most 
successful in this country since Its settlement by the 
whites." 

General Hancock said, in 1882: "Miles Is sec- 
ond to none — not even to Napoleon." 

And now let us place over against all this the 
war record of "Colonel" Roosevelt — he who had 
ordered the "reprimand," and put spikes In the re- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 19 

tiring order, for General Miles. According to his 
most approved biographers, Messrs. Leupp and 
Riis, Roosevelt, as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, 
"brought on" the war with Spain — for his own 
glory. By a strong political pull, he had himself 
appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the fantastic 
"Rough Riders"; then, by a further jerk of official 
patronage — pulling Wood up higher — Roosevelt 
attained his present proud title of "Colonel!" Pur- 
suing his impetuous role, he "drew first blood" in 
Cuba by persuading General Wheeler to disobey or- 
ders in the premature engagement at Las Guasimas 
wherein the Rough Riders under Wood and Roose- 
velt ran into an ambush, from which they were nar- 
rowly rescued by the Negro troops — as has been 
so oft recounted — not, however, until sixteen 
Rough Riders were killed, and fifty-two wounded 
— a needless sacrifice. 

We next find the valiant "Colonel" — in his old 
impetuous fashion — dislodging a few non-resisting 
Spaniards from the top of Kettle Hill, a low- 
browed knoll in the vicinity of San Juan, and paus- 
ing to watch his comrades — the Infantry of Kent 
and Hawkins — storm and capture the Spanish 
Block House on the top of San Juan Hill. Yet a 
fake story sent to the Associated Press featured 
Roosevelt as the daring leader of the San Juan Hill 
charge, instead of the safe and sane on-looker from 
behind the sugar kettles, a third of a mile awayl 



20 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

If we except the "Round Robin" mix-up, which Sec- 
retary Alger said merited a court-martial and ex- 
pulsion from the Army, and "shooting a little Span- 
iard in the back" — of which the Colonel himself is 
the chronicler — this fake charge up the San Juan 
Hill, and the fiasco at Las Guasimas, make up the 
grand total of Roosevelt's military exploits — his 
much-vaunted "war record." 

Yet the American people have crowned it with 
loving kindness and tender mercies, and rewarded 
it with every gift they had to bestow. Not the least 
count in the indictment against us as a nation for 
the Roosevelt folly which has overtaken us, is that 
we exalted this "rough-rider" tin soldier to a posi- 
tion whence he could snub Nelson A. Miles 1 Like 
the kid in the fable, non ille, sed locus, hide male- 
dixit. As ex-officio Commander-in-Chief of the 
Army, President Roosevelt was perfectly safe m 
striking at any other ofiicer, who could not strike 
back without incurring further punishment and hu- 
miliation for contumacy toward his chief. Only the 
people, whose battles Miles had fought for forty- 
two years, could rebuke President Roosevelt; and 
their answer to that was his triumphant re-election 
in 1904 by the largest majority ever given to a 
President ! 

The people of the West, whose homes Miles 
had freed from the Indian's war-whoop and scalp- 
ing-knife, were particularly uproarious — and arc 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 21 

still — In their admiration for the President who 
had "shown his teeth" to their deliverer. 

The apology is sometimes made for us, that **we 
are yet a child among the nations of the earth" ; and 
our tendency to honor fake heroes, while neglect- 
ing real ones, is ascribed to the child's ignorance 
and capriciousness in the selection of a toy. I am 
unable to decide whether this view of us is more 
gratifying to national pride than Mr. Barnum's 
dictum : "Americans just naturally love to be hum- 
bugged/" What do you think? 



CHAPTER II 

HOW ROOSEVELT "TOOK PANAMA" IN 1903 

Colonel Roosevelt's declaration to the students 
of the California University on March 23, 191 1, 
that he "took the Canal Zone while Congress de- 
bated," was followed by consequences out of all 
proportion to the Colonel's innocent diversion of 
indulging in personal boasts, while on his stated 
advertising tours. The immediate effect of this 
Panamaniac boast — or "confession," as some un- 
flattering ones have dubbed it — was an avalanche 
of press criticism chiefly adverse; more serious at- 
tacks and results followed, later. 

Now the Colonel never objects to newspaper 
comment, friendly or otherwise; au contraire, it is 
the very breath in his nostrils. No man in public 
life, past or present, ever had more astute apprecia- 
tion of the notoriety-worshipping note in human 
nature, which measures a man's greatness by the 
number of times his name appears in the public 
prints. Certainly no man in American public hfe 
ever went such desperate lengths in working the 
notoriety argument on the unthinking element of 
the population. 

An amusing instance of this in the last Republl- 
22 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 23 

can Convention— June, not August— at Chicago, 
was related by a staff writer for the New York Sun: 
One of the colored delegates to that convention, 
who had served in one of the negro regiments em- 
ployed in the Spanish-American War, and was— 
for that reason or some other— a warm supporter 
of Colonel Roosevelt, was commissioned by the 
managers to try to win over some of his brother 
delegates, instructed for Taft. Said the dusky 
Spanish War veteran: "Yas, sir, I tell yer Colonel 
Roosevelt's a great man! He's de fust white man 
what I see when I got to Cuba. Soon as I anded, 
I looked up, and dar wuz Colonel Roosevelt a set- 
tin' up on his boss! Yas, sir! dar he wuz--^ 
settin' on his boss!" What more could anybody 
ask, as proof of the Colonel's conspicuous military 
service in that campaign? 

And even as the Colonel understood he must 
"get up on his boss" to convince the multitude that 
he was the hero of the Cuban War, he has known 
ever since that he could ride into popular esteem 
on screaming head-lines and editorial leaders. It 
these last were sometimes severely condemnatory, 
as in the case of the California address just quoted, 
they were made the text for vigorous and exuberant 
replies, and thus the Roosevelt fame went ever for- 
ward on the publicity merry-go-round. 

After the newspaper flutter caused by the foolish 
speech had subsided; and after the Colombian 



24 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

minister at Washington, Senor Francisco de P. 
Borda, had sent a formal note of protest to our 
Secretary of State, on March 28th; Hon. Henry 
T. Rainey of Illinois, on April 6th, Introduced Into 
the House a resolution for a Congressional inquiry 
into the methods of this canal-strip seizure; to the 
end that the country might learn the facts, and suit- 
able reparation be made to Colombia, if the facts 
sustained her contention that our Government — 
under the Roosevelt regime — had been guilty of 
wrong toward a weaker republic. The "Rainey 
Resolution" was referred to the House Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, which thereafter instituted a 
searching Investigation, sending for records and 
witnesses. Thus the whole scandalous Panama 
affair, the high-handed and shameless manner of 
taking the Isthmus, garnished with the usual 
Rooseveltian Intrigue and high preachment — was 
revived and thrashed out In all Its disgraceful 
details. 

Absorbed in the work of building the canal, and 
elated over the near prospect of completion and 
profits, Americans had well-nigh forgotten — those 
of them who ever knew — the national dishonor In- 
volved in the initial step, "how the United States 
acquired the right" to dig the big ditch; and Mr. 
Roosevelt has only himself to thank, if, now that 
he has so modestly called attention to it, his part 
in that Panama moving-picture show of 1903, shall 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 25 

not appear so heroic and blameless as he would 
have us believe. He may some day learn the sad 
truth that, stripped of presidential prestige and 
official glamour, his acts must stand before the bar 
of history and the sober judgment of his disillu- 
sioned countrymen, upon precisely the same footing 
as all others — incredible as that may seem to him 
now. 

The Colonel's Canal speech recalls a story John 
Sharp Williams of Mississippi once told on the 
floor of the House, and which may have a wider 
applicability than to the gentleman John Sharp 
meant to hit with it : 

A young man whose father had been lost at sea, 
went to the morgue of a coast town, seeking his 
father's remains among the unidentified dead. He 
found one which so nearly resembled his father that 
even In the absence of positive Identification marks, 
he was willing to give the poor corpse the benefit 
of the doubt, and ordered It removed to an under- 
taker's establishment for suitable preparation and 
interment. In moving the corpse, in the young 
man's presence however, the morgue attendants In- 
advertantly turned It over, and the jostling caused 
a set of false teeth to drop from the dead man's 
mouth. Whereupon, the supposed son, with a 
hasty exclamation, quickly revoked his order, and 
disowned the body, averring that his father had 
never worn false teeth! After the young man's 



26 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

departure, the morgue-keeper, settling the corpse to 
its former position, addressed to it the following 
disgusted remark: "You blamed fool! If you could 
have kept your d — d mouth shut, you might have 
had a decent burial !" 

In the judgment of some of us, however, it is far 
more important that the truth of history should be 
vindicated; that the American conscience should be 
aroused — by a full review of the facts in the case — 
to the real import of this Panama seizure, to the 
end that tardy justice may be done a weaker nation 
— so far at least as money restitution can repair the 
wrong, than that T. R, should have "a decent 
burial." Though we shall endeavor — with the aid 
of this, and other interesting facts in his public 
record — to celebrate his political obsequies with as 
much dignity as possible, and not later than No- 
vember, 19 1 2. 

The "Rainey Resolution" and the Congressional 
inquiry found a quick echo in various magazine ar- 
ticles on the subject published throughout the 
country; most prominent among these being, "The 
Stain on Our Flag," by Henry G. Granger, a 
former United States Consul in Colombia, which 
appeared in the staid and circumspect Independent 
(New York) of August 17, 191 1; and Colonel 
Roosevelt's 4,000-word answer to all his critics, 
issued in the Outlook of October 7, 191 1, and en- 
titled "How the United States Acquired the Right 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 27 

to Dig the Panama Canal." The Outlook out- 
break in turn drew fire from the Consul-General 
of Colombia living in New York, Francisco Esco- 
bar, in an "open letter" to Colonel Roosevelt, and 
some months later from Leander T. Chamberlain, 
in an exhaustive and masterly arraignment of Mr. 
Roosevelt's course in the Panama affair, which was 
pubhshed in the February (19 12) number of the 
North American Review. 

The Escobar letter is chiefly significant in the 
sympathetic comment it evoked from the American 
press. Out of more than thirty newspapers ex- 
amined, I found only five which evinced any dis- 
position to defend the Colonel from the Consul- 
General's attack, and these based their defence upon 
a point of etiquette, rather than a "plea in equity," 
and since the doughty Colonel himself, when 
shown the letter, was quoted as saying: "Gracious 
me 1 I would not think of answering it any more 
than I would think of flying," it may be well to 
quote this letter in full : 

"To Theodore Roosevelt, Contributing Editor to 
The Outlook, New York City. 
"Sir: Former Presidents of the United States 
have stepped down from the highest position attain- 
able by mortal man, to again become private citi- 
zens of this great Republic, and have carried with 
them into their retirement the dignity of their ofiice 
and the respect of their fellow-countrymen. You 



28 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

have elected a different course, and by capitaliz- 
ing your Presidential prestige as the paid employee 
of a weekly journal, have forfeited the considera- 
tion due to the high office you once held. You can 
now pretend only to such respect as you as a man 
deserve. I say this to make it quite clear that I am 
addressing you as an individual, and do not wish 
to reflect either upon the Government or the people 
of the United States, for whom I have the deepest 
respect and regard. 

"In a signed article purporting to show how the 
United States acquired the right to build the 
Panama Canal, you use language which any decent 
newspaper would have hesitated to print. You say 
that 'Colombia had shown herself utterly incompe- 
tent to perform the ordinary governmental duties 
expected of a civilized state. You refer to the gov- 
ernment of Colombia as 'government by a succes- 
sion of banditti,' and as 'archaic despotism — in- 
efficient, bloody, and corrupt,' and in summing up 
your actions as President you declare, 'We did 
harm to no one save as harm is done to a bandit 
by a policeman who deprives him of his chance of 
blackmail.' 

"In default of argument, such is the unseemly 
language you use to justify the rape of the Isthmus, 
and refute the oft-repeated charges that you dealt 
unfairly with Colombia; that you violated a public 
treaty, in which the United States had pledged its 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 29 

honor as a nation to guarantee the sovereignty of 
Colombia over the Isthmus; that you recognized 
the fake republic of Panama, in defiance of accepted 
principles of international law, so as to permit your 
friends who were interested in the Panama Canal 
Company, to put through their forty million dollar 
deal with the United States; that you prostituted 
the Navy of the United States to the same end; 
that you — but why continue the long list of un- 
answered charges ? Instead of answering them, you 
hurl insults and slanders at the unfortunate country 
you robbed of her most valuable possession. 

"When you speak of blackmailers and bandits, 
Mr. Roosevelt, have you forgotten the ultimatum 
you sent to Colombia, threatening her with dire 
results if her Senate did not ratify without amend- 
ment the 'treaty' written by the attorney for the 
Panama Canal Company? Have you forgotten the 
American marines landed by Admiral Glass and 
sent into the Atrato region to Yavisa, and Real de 
Santa Maria? Who was the blackmailer and 
bandit then? Who has told the truth about this 
matter all along? Was it you, when you told Con- 
gress that the people of Panama 'rose literally as 
one man' ? Was it you when you boasted that you 
took Panama and let Congress debate ? Or was it 
you, when you wrote that your actions in this mat- 
ter were as free from scandal as the public acts of 
George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and 



30 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

that every action taken was not only proper, but 
was carried out in accordance with the highest, 
finest, and nicest standards of public and govern- 
mental ethics? 

"I think Colombia can safely leave these ques- 
tions to be answered by the conscience of the Ameri- 
can people. 

"Francisco Escobar, 
"Consul-General of Colombia.'* 

The New York Herald observed of this letter, 
that it as "nearly typified the physical acts of 
boxing the ears, tweaking the nose, and adminis- 
tering a kick, as a piece of writing could possibly 
do;" and the friendly note of most of the press 
comment in regard to it can only be interpreted as 
a distinct repudiation of Colonel Roosevelt's felici- 
tation upon his manner of "taking" the Isthmus. 
This much is gratifying, and argues hopefully for 
the vindication of Escobar's trust in "the conscience 
of the American people." 

Scarcely less drastic than the Consul-General's in- 
dictment of T. R., though couched in more digni- 
fied terms, was that of Leander T. Chamberlain, 
the venerable minister, scholar, author, scientist, 
publicist, patron of arts, and former judge-advocate 
of the Navy, who replied to the Colonel's Outlook 
peroration, which the learned divine characterized 
as a curious blend of "personal boasting, sweeping 
misstatement, and perfervid invoking of high 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 31 

morality." After reciting the treaties, marshaling 
the facts, and recounting the remarkable proceed- 
ings at Panama in November, 1903, this high au- 
thority writes across the whole affair, "A Chapter 
of National Dishonor." He replies to "the self- 
appointed protagonist of imperial efficiency," in the 
scathing words: "The verdict of history reads, 
'The policeman himself turned bandit. In the name 
of equity, and under the guise of friendship, he 
smote the Innocent and plundered the defence- 
less.' " 

However, there is no special need of expert 
testimony or learned expositors to make plain the 
nature of this Panama transaction. A very cursory 
reading of the official and historic records, will re- 
veal to the man In the street just what it meant for 
this Government to "take" the Canal Zone in the 
manner authorized, and now bragged about, by Its 
then accredited agent, Theodore Roosevelt, Presi- 
dent. We will briefly review the facts : Back In 
the 40's, before the days of transcontinental rail- 
roads in the United States, It was very important 
to our Government, In the opening up and settle- 
ment of California and the Pacific slope, to have 
the free transit of the Isthmus of Panama, owned 
and controlled then as In 1903, by the South 
American State of New Granada, afterwards called 
Colombia. So that in the latter part of President 
Polk's administration, 1846-8, a treaty was formu- 



32 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

lated, signed, and ratified, which cited in the pre- 
amble: "The United States of North America and 
the RepubHc of New Granada (now Colombia) in 
South America, desiring to make lasting and firm 
the friendship and good understanding which 
happily exist between both nations, have resolved 
to fix in a manner clear, distinct, and positive, the 
rules which shall in the future be religiously ob- 
served between them, by means of a treaty, or gen- 
eral convention of peace, friendship, commerce and 
navigation." 

The terms of this "firm and inviolable peace and 
friendship," stripped of superfluous verbiage, were 
certain reciprocal privileges of importation and 
tonnage dues; a guarantee upon the part of Co- 
lombia of a free and open transit across the Isth- 
mus; and upon the part of the United States, being 
the stronger of the two republics, an absolute 
guarantee of Colombia's sovereignty over the 
Isthmus, and her property rights in the territory; 
and to maintain the strict neutrality of the Isthmian 
passage against any threatened foreign invasion. 
It was not merely a diplomatic exchange of friendly 
platitudes; it was a bargain, with clearly defined 
stipulations, signed and sealed; for certain privi- 
leges and immunities obtained from Colombia, the 
United States covenanted to secure to the little 
sister republic, the peaceful enjoyment of her 
choicest possession — the Isthmus of Panama. It 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 33 

was so held and respected by all our Presidents 
from Polk to Roosevelt — not inclusive of the latter. 
The archives of the State Department at Wash- 
ington abound in expressions from former presi- 
dents and secretaries of state, confirming, empha- 
sizing, and strengthening this compact. 

In 1869, a new convention was entered into be- 
tween Colombia and the United States, which gave 
the latter leave to build a ship canal across Panama; 
yet though it was signed by the Presidents of both 
countries and ratified by the Colombian Congress, 
the Senate of the United States rejected it, but 
somehow not much prominence has been given to 
this "infamous, corrupt, and bloody" attempt upon 
the part of our Senate to obstruct and defeat 
"the great world enterprise and dream of the 
centuries" ! 

The reverse of this programme obtained in 1903, 
when the "Hay-Herran Treaty" was signed at 
Washington in January, ratified by our Congress in 
March, and forwarded to the Colombian Congress, 
with President Roosevelt's ultimatum, that that 
treaty "covered the whole matter, and any change 
would be in violation of the Spooner law, and not 
permissible." This ultimatum was re-inforced by 
one or two veiled threats from the State Depart- 
ment to the American minister at Bogota — by way 
of soothing Colombia's pride — while the treaty was 
pending in the Colombian Senate, and these, to- 



34 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

gether with the more material considerations, led to 
its rejection by Colombia on August 12, 1903, 

Says Mr. Granger, writing in the Independent: 
"It is Interesting to note that there is no evidence 
to sustain the report circulated at the time, that 
Colombia attempted to 'hold up' the United States 
Government for a larger sum than the $10,000,000 
stipulated by the treaty. . . . The official records 
of the United States show that If Colombia had 
been allowed to deal with the French Canal Com- 
pany as was her right by the Hay-Herran Treaty, 
and to exact from this company a sum which under 
the circumstances was within reason, the treaty 
would have been ratified by Colombia, and the 
United States would have secured all it desired in 
a perfectly proper and legitimate manner." 

Other reliable investigators of Colombian official 
records, testified that "of all the amendments Intro- 
duced Into the Colombian Senate, there was not one 
relating to the compensation, either in money or in 
any other form, that Colombia was to receive from 
the United States In exchange for the concessions 
granted by the former to the latter country;" that 
"the objections of Colombia to the Hay-Herran 
treaty were two-fold: (i) Divested of all diplo- 
matic jargon, the treaty provided for the sale to 
the United States of the Canal Zone, and such 
alienation of the national territory was expressly 
prohibited by the Colombian Constitution; (2) the 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 35 

Treaty entailed an abandonment of Colombia's re- 
versionary right in the Panama Railroad — from 
which she derived a yearly income of $250,000 — 
and made no provision for an equitable settlement 
between the New Panama Canal Company and 
Colombia, looking to the payment by the former 
of just compensation to Colombia for the general 
release of concessionary obligations contemplated 
by the transfer of the Company's property to the 
United States." 

It will be observed that Editor Roosevelt finds 
in this natural, reasonable, and legitimate desire 
upon the part of Colombia to hold the New 
Panama Company to the terms of its agreement 
with her, a final sign of depravity, just what one 
might expect from a "bloody, archaic despotism" 
like the Colombian government; and when we learn 
the deep and abiding interest of his dear friend, 
William Nelson Cromwell, in the fate of the New 
Company, this is not to be wondered at. 

William Nelson Cromwell, the brilliant and ver- 
satile New York lawyer who was the American 
attorney for the "New Panama Canal Company" 
— which had succeeded the old, bankrupt De Les- 
seps Company on the Isthmus — openly confessed 
that he had written the "Hay-Herran" treaty, and 
this readily accounts for the convenient loop-holes 
in that instrument enabling the New Company to 
elude its obligations to Colombia. From all ac- 



36 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

counts, Mr. Cromwell was the very busy lobbyist 
for the New Canal Company at Washington, from 
January, 1902, when the House passed the Hep- 
burn Bill — by a practically unanimous vote — to 
build the canal at Nicaragua, up to March, 1903, 
when the Nicaraguan forces, led by the venerable 
Senator Morgan of Alabama, were completely 
overthrown in the ratification by the Senate of the 
Hay-Herran treaty. The only thing saved to the 
Nicaraguan contestants was the Spooner proviso, 
that upon the failure of Colombia to ratify the 
treaty "within a reasonable time," our Government 
would immediately proceed to negotiate for the 
Nicaraguan right of way. 

It was commonly said at the time that the chief 
influence which changed the Congressional verdict 
from the Nicaraguan to the Panama route, was 
that of Senator Hanna; but a Republican Senator 
very close to Hanna is my authority for the state- 
ment, that up to the time of William Nelson Crom- 
well's appearance in Hanna's office, that "practical" 
statesman knew as much or cared as much about the 
subject of inter-oceanic canals as he did about Wag- 
nerian opera ; and that the masterly argument, set- 
ting forth the advantages of the Panama route, 
which Hanna delivered in the Senate — and which 
was reputed to have had such convincing weight — 
was the argument of William Nelson Cromwell ! 

Naturally, such a versatile genius was not to be 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 37 

turned from his purpose of having the United 
States build a canal across Panama, by a trifle like 
the failure of the Colombian government to ratify 
the treaty. Neither was the Spooner Amendment 
pertinent, or in any way germane to the Crom- 
wellian plan — so it was never mentioned nor con- 
sidered after Colombia's refusal. There yet re- 
mained for the attainment of the Cromwell goal, a 
Panama "uprising," which with the timely and 
efficient backing of United States gunboats, might 
grow into a Panama "revolution" which would 
serve every Cromwellian end. 

The story of how President Roosevelt ordered 
"Acting Secretary of the Navy" Darling to send 
the cablegram to the commander of the United 
States warships stationed at Colon and neighboring 
ports, to "maintain an open transit," and prevent 
the landing of any Colombia troops "within fifty 
miles of Panama" — this order being dated Noveni- 
ber 2d, and the "uprising" not occurring until 
November 3d, — and the immediate recognition of 
the fake "Repubhc" on November 5th, — two days 
after the "up-rising," — was all thrashed out in the 
press and in the Congress of that day, and is too 
familiar to require repetition of the details. 

Editor Roosevelt finds vindication of President 
Roosevelt's course, in the fact, that all the Euro- 
pean powers quickly followed his example in giv- 
ing recognition to the infant Republic. Certainly, 



38 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

why not? Where is the European "power" which 
would refuse recognition to "Uncle Sam's" 
adopted foundling? Quoting Dr. Chamberlain: 
"He adopted the child before it was born, mid- 
wifed its birth, and became sponsor for it during 
its puling infancy"; and he brought it to such 
robust national proportions in nine days from the 
date of its birth, that it was ready to treat on an 
equal footing with the great American govern- 
ment at Washington on April 13, 1903, through 
its accredited ambassador, M. Philippe Bunau- 
Varilla ! 

This gentleman, a French alien, and business 
associate of Mr. Cromwell in the New Canal Com- 
pany, was conveniently located in New York — so 
that no time might be lost in transporting him from 
Panama to Washington — and he was escorted to 
the White House by "Acting Secretary of State 
Loomis." 

Five days later, November i8th, the canal treaty 
was signed, whereby Colombia's $10,000,000 went 
to the Panamaniacs, and the $40,000,000, paid by 
our Government for the New Company's property 
— which it was said had been offered a short time 
previous for $6,000,000 — was delivered through 
J. P. Morgan and Company, bankers, to Crom- 
well, Bunau-Varilla, and their associate holders of 
the French Company's stock, — and all this long be- 
fore Panama had anything resembling a constitu- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 39 

tion, before she had held an election, or exercised 
any of the usual functions of a sovereign State ! 

The sinister aspects of Mr. Cromwell's connec- 
tion with this Panama business, need not be empha- 
sized further than to say, that when he was sum- 
moned as a witness before the Senate Committee in- 
vestigating the same in 1906, he persistently and 
arrogantly refused to answer pertinent questions, 
and his insolent replies to old Senator Morgan, won 
him the contempt of everybody who heard him, 
or who read the Committee hearings. 

The impertinent inquiry raised by the New York 
PForld in the Fall of 1908 — "who got the 
money?" — i.e., who were the chief beneficiaries of 
the $40,000,000 fund, is still shrouded in mystery. 
The World's impertinence was rebuked by Presi- 
dent Roosevelt in a criminal libel suit instituted 
against it by his Attorney-General in February, 
1909; and the Indianapolis News was likewise 
brought into court on a similar indictment, for 
presuming to quote the World's scandalous 
charges. After two years of court proceedings, 
the Supreme Court of the United States decided 
that the matter was not justiciable in the Federal 
Courts. This, of course, only settled the question 
of jurisdiction, and did not touch the question at 
issue between Mr. Roosevelt and the World. 

I understand, however, that the case may be tried 
on its merits in the State courts, and some persons 



40 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

have wondered why Colonel Roosevelt did not 
promptly rebuke the Supreme Court decision by 
bringing action for libel against the World in the 
New York courts. 

Perhaps after the fall election, and the assign- 
ment of the Bull Moose to its proper place in the 
governmental machinery, he may have more leisure 
to do this. We may then get some illuminating 
phases of the Panama incident not now obtainable 
from the records. 



CHAPTER III 

Roosevelt's pact with the mormons 
(1903-4) 

Twenty-five years ago — so the story goes — a 
young politician consulting Charles A. Dana as to 
a convenient campaign issue, received this cynical 
advice : "Flay the Mormon, and roast the China- 
man, for neither has any friends." 

If the great journalist were alive to-day he 
would have to retract his witty cynicism as to the 
Mormons. He would know, what every one keep- 
ing tab on the under-currents of politics knows, 
that the Mormon's "friends" are the most impor- 
tant factor in present-day Mormonism; that to 
these "the Church of the Latter-day Saints" owes 
its advancement, In twenty-five years, from a de- 
spised and "persecuted" sect to a rich and power- 
ful hierarchy, counting its wealth in terms of rail- 
roads, mines, power and light plants, salt-works, 
sugar factories, department stores, newspapers, 
theaters — every conceivable form of business en- 
terprise; and numbering its "friends" among the 
learned and potent in American poHtical and 
financial cliques. 

Beginning with six members in 1831, this queer 

41 



42 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

sect whose corner-stone is polygamy, now has a 
following in this country and abroad of nearly 
one million souls. Its real estate holdings com- 
prise a region larger than France plus Spain and 
Portugal. "As to money, mere gold," says one 
recent investigator, "the Mormon Church over- 
towers the Steel Trust or Standard Oil; it can 
command and secure $50,000,000 on twenty- four 
hours' notice." 

Joseph F. Smith, present Prophet and head of 
the Church, has a yearly income of approximately 
$2,000,000 from the tithes levied on its member- 
ship, for whose investment or distribution he is 
accountable to no one save himself. 

He exercises absolute and autocratic sway over 
his followers in secular, as well as spiritual mat- 
ters, and no member of his flock dares enter upon 
any sort of business venture without his consent. 
The few hardy spirits who have attempted defi- 
ance of his will, have bitterly paid the price in the 
wreck of their fortunes. A Northwestern senator, 
who shall be nameless here by his own request 
(Northwestern statesmen being notoriously ret- 
icent touching Mormon State secrets), thus testi- 
fied in 19 10: "Politically, the Mormon Church 
grows constantly stronger. It holds Utah in the 
hollow of its hand; it holds the balance of power 
in Idaho, Wyoming, Nevada, Colorado, Mon- 
tana, Arizona, and New Mexico ; and has convinc- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 43 

ing political weight in Oregon and Washington 
State. In the United States Senate, for what it 
wants, the Mormon Church already holds twelve 
seats, and when Arizona and New Mexico pick 
their senators, it will get its brand on four more." 

How has all this come about? It is a long 
story, but the answer may be found, in brief, in 
Mormon industry, patience, and cunning in "mak- 
ing friends" with important Gentile political and 
commercial interests. 

After the killing of their Prophet and founder, 
the first Joseph Smith, whose "divine revelation" 
anent plural and celestial marriage — accompanied 
by an energetic application of the principle in his 
own person, together with certain lax notions con- 
cerning the property rights of his neighbors, cost 
him his life in the Illinois village of Nauvoo sev- 
enty years ago, — the "Saints" fled into the Western 
desert (1847) under the leadership of Brigham 
Young, the mightiest Mormon of them all, and 
the doughty husband of twenty-one wives ! 

It is said that at first he had dreams of an inde- 
pendent empire in the West — devoted to his pe- 
culiar marital theories, but later compromised on 
the "State of Deseret" which he reared amid the 
sand dunes of what is now Utah. 

This he sought to have admitted to the Union, 
but was denied during many years because of the 
sentiment against polygamy existent in the coun- 



44 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

try, though two American Presidents, Fillmore 
and Pierce, had appointed Brigham governor of 
the new Territory. 

Secure in their desert fastnesses, the apostles of 
animalism were allowed to pursue their polyga- 
mous ways unmolested until 1862, when some un- 
easy Eastern conscience succeeded in having Con- 
gress pass a law prohibiting polygamy in the 
Territories of the United States; though no one 
was sufficiently energetic to have the law enforced 
during twenty years. Not until the passage of the 
"Edmunds Law" in 1882, did the Mormon 
troubles with the Federal authorities begin. These 
troubles were very real, however, and not to be 
ignored. Prosecutions grew, and as the evidence 
lay all about, convictions were not difficult. 

More than one thousand "Saints" were appre- 
hended and sent to jail. The "Edmunds-Tucker 
Act" of 1887 was a still more drastic measure 
for the stamping out of polygamy in the United 
States; "the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter- 
day Saints" was disincorporated, its property con- 
fiscated, its members disfranchised; and finally, 
after sore buffetings, exiles, and hardships from 
what they termed the "Diocletian Persecution," 
the stubborn polygamous spirit was broken, and 
the followers of Joseph the First came out of their 
hiding-places and in their prison stripes, to make 
terms with the "persecutor," 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 45 

If Uncle Sam would only admit Utah to the 
sisterhood of States, the Children of the Prophet 
would be good; they would abandon their long- 
cherished doctrine of plural marriage; they would 
omit the pregnant whisper on the eve of elections, 
warning the faithful to "take counsel" how they 
should vote; and individual Mormons should be 
free to choose their own vocations, without inter- 
ference or dictation from the Hierarchy. As an 
earnest of the Mormon change of heart, the presi- 
dent of the Church, Wilford Woodruff, issued a 
proclamation that he had received a new revela- 
tion from on High, which declared polygamy no 
longer essential to salvation; and since the Con- 
gress of the United States had seen fit to forbid it, 
he would recommend its discontinuance to his fol- 
lowers. This "Woodruff Manifesto" — as it was 
called — was issued September 24, 1890, and on Oc- 
tober 6, next ensuing, a formal conference of all 
Church officials was held to confirm and endorse 
it and make it obligatory upon all Mormons under 
penalty of disfellowship. It was made perfectly 
clear — not only would no more plural marriages 
be solemnized, but all such existing prior to the 
"Manifesto" were annulled as to cohabitation, 
though it was agreed that existent plural wives 
with their children should be cared for. President 
Woodruff, Lorenzo Snow, Joseph F. Smith, 
George Q. Cannon, and Anthon Lund, apostles, 



46 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

all testified that the Woodruff manifesto meant 
giving up plural marriages already existing. 

With these fair promises, the "Saints" began 
anew the battle for Statehood. Gentile residents 
of Utah, studying the Mormon character at close 
range, gravely shook their heads, and warned the 
country that the "Manifesto" was merely a ruse 
to escape Federal espionage and place the regula- 
tion of marriage laws in Mormon hands. Senator 
Edmunds, and some others, opposed the Statehood 
bill in Congress, but its friends triumphed over all 
opposition, and Utah was admitted to the Union 
in 1896, with anti-polygamy and the other pro- 
visions cited, nominated in the bond. 

Not until the Smoot case came up in the Senate 
of the United States, did the country learn the full 
extent of Mormon perfidy in the matter of State- 
hood pledges, or get a side-light on the Mormons' 
"friends." Reed Smoot, one of the twelve apostles 
of the Mormon hierarchy, presented his credentials 
as a United States Senator from the State of Utah, 
February 23, 1903. On the same day and at 
the same hour, there was filed with the Senate a 
protest against seating him, signed by eighteen of 
the most prominent and reputable Gentile residents 
of Utah. 

Then for nearly a year the non-Mormon world 
rang with protests, and many pages of the Con- 
gressional Record were devoted each morning to 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 47 

the numberless petitions pouring in upon every 
Senator in the body — irrespective of party — from 
churches, temperance societies, women's clubs, 
singing schools, Christian Endeavorers, Y. M. 
C. A.'s, and every known organization dedicated 
to the up-lift, "praying for an investigation of the 
charges against the Hon. Reed Smoot." Yet it 
was January 27, 1904, before a resolution was 
"put through" the Senate to refer the case to the 
Committee on Privileges and Elections. 

This committee comprised eight Republicans 
and 5 Democrats; the Republican members were 
Senators Burrows (chairman), Hoar, McCombas, 
Foraker, Depew, Dillingham, Beveridge, and 
Hopkins; and the Democrats, Pettus, Bailey, Du- 
bois, Overman, and Clarke of Arkansas. Later, 
Senators Knox and Dolliver were appointed to 
the vacancies caused by the deaths of Hoar and 
McComas, and Senator Frazier of Tennessee took 
the place of Senator Clarke of Arkansas, who, it 
was said, resigned from the Committee in disgust 
at the filthy testimony elicited from President 
Joseph F. Smith, head of the Mormon system. 

For two years and four months, this Senate tri- 
bunal examined witnesses, and weighed evidence; 
then on June 11, 1906, Chairman Burrows (of 
Michigan) announced to the Senate that, "in the 
judgment of a majority of the Committee on 
Privileges and Elections, Reed Smoot is not en- 



48 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

titled to a seat in the United States Senate." The 
vote in committee stood 8 to 5, Senators Burrows, 
Depew, and Dolliver uniting with all the Demo- 
cratic members for Smoot's expulsion; whilst 
Foraker, Knox, Beveridge, Hopkins and Dilling- 
ham voted for his retention, and signed a "mi- 
nority report" dissenting from the majority ver- 
dict. When the "Burrows Resolution" was 
offered in the Senate these five "friendly" dis- 
senters prevented a vote on it, and any further con- 
sideration of the question at that time. Again in 
December (1906) they side-tracked it with a con- 
venient motion for postponement. When it could 
be no longer deferred and reached the final debate 
in the Senate in February, 1907, the ablest of the 
"friends" — Senators Knox, Foraker, and Beve- 
ridge — exhausted their learning, eloquence, and 
legal sophistries, in defense of the Mormon 
Senator. Senator Knox argued the constitutional 
end of the question — he having studied that noble 
"guardian of our liberties" with special reference 
to making it fit all emergencies like the Smoot 
case; Senator Foraker, able lawyer that he is, was 
— through some subtle influence — inveigled into 
putting forth a blanket apology for polygamy, 
upon the historic ground that back in the fifties the 
United States Government had seemed to lend a 
quasi-official sanction to it, in the appointment of 
Brigham Young by Presidents Fillmore and 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 49 

Pierce. Just why Senator Foraker should have 
overlooked the attitude of American presidents 
much nearer to him — as evinced in the ringing 
anti-polygamy messages of Grant, Hayes, Gar- 
field, Arthur, Cleveland, and Harrison — will prob- 
ably never be known. Senator Beveridge — a 
veritable Hotspur in every legislative battle for 
humanity — dwelt long and feelingly upon the 
many amiable qualities, and virtuous freedom from 
polygamous taint, of the Hon. Reed Smoot him- 
self, and dramatically likened him to the much 
abused Dreyfus of France! All of which is what 
the late Bill Arp would term, "mighty inter-^itin." 
Senator Burrows, speaking for the opposition, 
quietly called attention to two salient points in the 
controversy: (i) That the contention that po- 
lygamy as a religious tenet was under the Con- 
stitutional guarantee of religious freedom to all, 
had been conclusively settled by repeated decisions 
of the United States Supreme Court ruling against 
any such absurdity; and Senator Burrows recited 
the cases in detail, declaring bigamy and polygamy 
crimes by the laws of all civilized countries, and 
crimes against decency and morality. To advocate 
them upon religious grounds, is to offend the com- 
mon sense of mankind. (2) That Reed Smoot 
was not on trial as a polygamist; although one wit- 
ness, on his own responsibility and without suffi- 
cient evidence, had made the charge, it was not 



50 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

contained in the main protest, which recited that 
"Reed Smoot is one of a self-perpetuating body of 
fifteen men, who constituting the ruling authorities 
of the Mormon Church, claim supreme authority 
divinely sanctioned, to shape the belief and control 
the conduct of their followers in all matters what- 
soever, civil and religious; who thus uniting in 
themselves the functions of Church and State, in- 
culcate and encourage polygamy, and by all the 
means in their power, protect and honor those 
who, with themselves, violate the laws of the land 
and engage in practices destructive of the family 
and the home." 

Reading further from the Majority Report, 
Senator Burrows said: "A sufficient number of 
specific instances of the taking of plural wives 
since the Manifesto of 1890, have been shown by 
the testimony, to demonstrate the fact that the 
leaders of this church — the 'First Presidency and 
the Twelve Apostles' — connive at the practice, and 
have done so ever since the issuance of the 'mani- 
festo' purporting to put an end to it." Among the 
"specific instances" referred to were seven ruling 
apostles. President Smith himself having per- 
formed the ceremony for one of them. President 
Smith also confessed to living with five wives at 
that hearing, and to be the father of forty-three 
children, eleven of whom had been born since the 
Manifesto. When asked by one of his judges if 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 51 

he did not know he was violating the laws, the 
prophet replied: "I do not claim that in this I have 
obeyed the law of the land; but I preferred to take 
my chances." It was also put in evidence that 
President Smith, addressing a congregation in the 
Salt Lake Tabernacle, June, 1904, had said if he 
were to give up his polygamous mode of life he 
should expect to be forever damned, and debarred 
from the society of those he held most dear In the 
hereafter. 

Extracts from the "Book of Doctrine and Cov- 
enants" — the Mormon Bible — inculcating the sanc- 
tity of polygamy, were read before the committee, 
and testimony given to show that this book is still 
circulated among the "Saints," and Is regarded by 
them as of higher authority than the Manifesto — 
which by some curious oversight has not been in- 
corporated In the sacred book ! 

The Senate Committee learned that Mormon 
leaders suppressed testimony regarding polygamous 
marriages by sending the witnesses out of the coun- 
try. Gentiles charged that records kept In the 
Mormon Temple would disclose the fact that 
plural marriages have been contracted in Utah 
since the Manifesto with the sanction of the church 
officials; but a witness who was required to bring 
these records, refused to do so after consulting 
President Smith. In a word, it was patent to the 
Committee that "all sorts of shifts, tricks, and 



52 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

evasions were resorted to In order to avoid service 
of a subpoena to appear and testify"; and after 
reviewing all the facts and the evidence in the case 
the Majority Report summed up its conclusions as 
follows : 

"The conduct of Mr. Smoot in this regard can- 
not be separated from that of his associates in the 
government of the Mormon Church. Whatever 
his private opinions, or his private conduct, he 
stands before the world as an integral part of an 
organization which counsels, encourages, and ap- 
proves polygamy; which not only fails to discipline 
those who break the laws, but loads with honors 
and favors the most noted polygamists among 
them. It is an elementary principle of law that 
where two or more persons are associated together 
in an act, organization, enterprise, or course of con- 
duct, which is in its character or purpose unlawful, 
the act of any one of them is the act of all ; and the 
act of any number of them Is the act of each one. 
But the complicity of Mr. Smoot in the conduct of 
Mormon leaders, does not consist wholly in the fact 
that he is one of them. By repeated acts, and in a 
number of instances, Mr. Smoot has given active 
aid and support to the violators of State laws and 
common decency. By his own admission he helped 
to make Joseph Smith president, and repeatedly 
voted to sustain him after full knowledge of his 
polygamous living; he also helped to select Heber 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 53 

J. Grant, a notorious polygamist, as president of a 
mission; he voted for Charles W. Penrose as an 
apostle after testimony given in this Investigation 
proved him to be a polygamist. As a trustee of 
Brigham Young University, Mr. Smoot made no 
protest against retaining Benjamin Cluff, Jr., a 
noted polygamist, as president of that institution, 
nor did he protest against the election of another 
polygamist in Cluff's stead. At no time has he 
uttered a syllable of protest against the conduct of 
his associates, but has sustained them both by his 
acts and by his silence. In the judgment of the 
Committee, Mr. Smoot is no more entitled to a 
seat in the Senate than he would be If he were 
associating in polygamous cohabitation with a plu- 
rality of wives." 

Nor was the polygamous sin the only count In the 
Smoot indictment. He admitted before his judges 
that he had gone through the "endowment" cere- 
monies In the Mormon Temple — that sanctissimum 
sanctorum of the Latter-day worshippers — whose 
threshold has never been profaned by Gentile foot; 
and a number of witnesses testified that the "oath 
of vengeance" — or oath of "blood atonement" is 
part of these "endowment" rites. A copy of this 
oath was read before the Senate Committee : 

"I do solemnly promise and vow that I will 
never cease to pray and importune High Heaven 
to avenge the blood of the prophets (Joseph and 



54 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

Hyrum Smith) upon this nation (the United 
States), and that I will teach this to my children's 
children unto the third and fourth generation." 

An effort was made to discredit this testimony 
as to the "endowment oath," by impeaching the 
veracity of three of the witnesses; but as this im- 
peachment rested on the word of Mormons only, it 
did not weigh greatly with the lawyers of that 
Committee who had for months been taking obser- 
vations of Mormon veracity. A witness called in 
Smoot's behalf, a Mr. Dougall, who corroborated 
the testimony in regard to the "endowment oath," 
was not even challenged by Smoot's attorneys. 

Concerning the Committee hearings in the 
Smoot case, Senator Dubois, of Idaho, speaking in 
the Senate on the "Burrows Resolution," said: 
"Not ten Senators would vote for Reed Smoot if 
they had read the testimony." 

However, on the final ballot — whether due to 
ignorance of the testimony, or for some other 
equally valid reason — forty-two Senators were re- 
corded as voting to retain the Mormon Senator, 
and only twenty-eight to unseat him — eighteen be- 
ing paired and not voting. Senators Depew and 
Dolliver, who had voted in committee against 
Smoot, switched to his support on the Senate roll- 
call; and Burrows alone, of all the Republican Sen- 
ators who reviewed the testimony "from the 
bench," carried his colors into the fight on the Sen- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS S5 

ate floor, and held them aloft in the moment of de- 
feat. As soon as his resolution to expel the Mor- 
mon Senator was lost, the man from Michigan 
gave formal notice that he would shortly introduce 
a bill in the Senate asking an amendment to the 
Federal Constitution which would give Congress 
the power to punish polygamy, and he did; but the 
proposed amendment was referred to the Judiciary 
Committee — and was never more heard of. The 
Mormon's "friends" were sufficiently numerous in 
that committee to strangle even a report on the 
measure. 

All praise to "the senior Senator" from Michi- 
gan! President Roosevelt might brand him as a 
"reactionary," and other Mormon aUies go after 
his political scalp — and get it; yet there remained 
more of honor on the credit side of his senatorial 
balance-sheet than could be found on the side of 
all those who had saved their togas at the sacrifice 
of their principles. 

For, sentiment and religion aside, this great fact 
stands out from the world's history — that thus far 
in human development, monogamous marriage is 
the one solid rock on which to build a decent so- 
ciety — all else is shifting sand. It is one — and the 
chief one — of "those fundamental rules which poor 
human nature has worked out, with such infinite 
pains, for its own protection;" it is the only thing 
which lends dignity and sanctity to the home; and 



S6 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

anything which tends to Impair this institution 
weakens the whole social fabric. 

Mormonism, with its absurd, fanatical doctrine 
anent "plural and celestial marriage," aims the 
deadliest blow at the monogamous Idea, of any- 
thing else — not even excepting lax divorce laws; 
and it Is Incredible that men holding the monoga- 
mous relation, and believing it the only moral 
safeguard for their own wives and daughters, 
should yet vote to seat in the highest councils of 
state a representative and anointed emissary of 
the Mormon system ! Yet such is the merciless 
showing of the Congressional Record of 
February 20, 1907, and such is ever the 
pitiable story of the "exigencies of practical 
politics." 

Senator Newlands of Navada, speaking in favor 
of the "Burrows Resolution," shed some light on 
the situation in stating that he realized the gravity 
of the possible consequences to himself In opposing 
the Mormon Church, "which," he said, "is a strong 
pohtical factor in a portion of Nevada, and the 
man who antagonizes that Church takes his politi- 
cal life in his own hands.'* 

O, W. Powers, Territorial Supreme Justice of 
Utah, appointed by President Cleveland, testified 
in the Smoot trial: "The Mormon Church always 
impresses on its followers the necessity for unity 
of action^ the necessity of obeying counsel; the 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 57 

propriety of following their 'file leader' without 
question." 

A. E. Hyde, a Mormon mine owner of Salt 
Lake City, and a son-in-law of ex-Senator Frank 
Cannon, who was stopping at the Shoreham Hotel 
In Washlnton, D. C, In October, 1908, gave out a 
published Interview in the Washington Herald 
which contained the following statements: "The 
Mormon Church is a perfect political organiza- 
tion. If orders go out the night before election 
day to vote for a certain candidate, every Mormon 
unhesitatingly, and without questioning, will cast 
his vote as directed." Mr. Hyde stated that he did 
not approve of his Church engaging In politics, 
because Its leaders had to promise the United States 
Government, before they were accorded Statehood, 
that the Church would cease its political interfer- 
ence. "But we are backsliders," he added, "and we 
are playing politics as strong as we ever did. . . . 
Yes, I am a Mormon, but I am a young Mormon. 
... Is polygamy dead? Certainly not; I have 
lots of friends who practice it, notwithstanding all 
testimony to the contrary. I could give you the 
names of twenty-five without difficulty. And Mor- 
monism is making wonderful strides everywhere 
and making converts every day J' 

Senator Kearns of Utah, speaking in the United 
States Senate, February 28, 1905, said of the Mor- 
mon Hierarchy: "Its political autonomy is com- 



58 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

plete. Parties are nothing to It, except as parties 
may be used by It. It adheres to the party In power. 
No man can be elected to either house of Congress 
against Its wish from the States where the Mor- 
mons hold the balance of power." In this connec- 
tion, It Is Interesting to note, that of the nine Re- 
publican Senators who voted against Smoot, five — 
Burrows, Hale, Hemlnway, Hansbrough, and Kltt- 
redge — have been retired from public life In the 
five years since the ballot was taken. Dubois, a 
Democratic Senator In a Mormon stronghold 
(Idaho), which had been pledged to the Republi- 
can Administration, In opposing Smoot, simply 
courted the political death which was foreordained 
for him. 

Yet while the Hierarchy no doubt exercised a 
directly controlling Influence upon the Gentile 
Senators from the Western States where Mormon 
voters mostly congregate. It could have had no di- 
rect weight with those statesmen from the East and 
Middle West, who voted and wrestled mightily In 
prayer and argument for the Hon. Reed Smoot. 
In order for the Mormon Influence to reach these, 
It must pass through some friendly Eastern poten- 
tate. JVho was this Mormon medium? 

It was the common talk about Washington and 
the capltol at the time, that the pressure which com- 
pelled these unwilling Senators to vote against their 
home traditions, was exerted from the White 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 59 

House, and that to President Roosevelt the Hon. 
Smoot owed his retention In the Senate of the 
United States. 

Senator Dubois openly charged It In his "swan 
song"; and the Salt Lake Tribune — the anti- 
Mormon organ of Utah — re-echoed the charge 
on Its front page, the morning of February 21, 
1907: although President Roosevelt was on record 
as having "advised" the Utah Legislature prior to 
the selection of Smoot not to send a Mormon to 
the United States Senate. Which presidential "ad- 
vice" the Hierarchy evidently felt Itself strong 
enough to disregard. Mr. Hyde, In his Washing- 
ton Herald Interview, likewise stated that "a bar- 
gain was made at the time Senator Smoot was fight- 
ing for his seat; to deliver the Mormon vote to the 
Republicans in return for the Administration's in- 
fluence in behalf of Smoot." 

The editor of the Tribune and others keeping 
watch at Salt Lake, believed the deal to have been 
consummated In the spring of 1903 (a few months 
after Smoot's debut in the Senate), when President 
Roosevelt visited Salt Lake City and spoke In the 
Mormon Tabernacle. A writer in Pearson's 
Magazine for September, 19 10, places the date 
near the close of the 1904 presidential campaign, 
and sets forth the terms of the pact as follows: 
"Theodore Roosevelt himself made the bargain 
with the Mormon Church, which exists to this day. 



6o BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

The Church agreed to deliver to Roosevelt the 
electoral votes of Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho, in 
exchange for three things : ( i ) A cessation of the 
agitation within the Republican party for an 
amendment of the Federal Constitution giving 
Congress the power to legislate concerning 'plural 
marriage'; (2) a defence of Reed Smoot, apostle 
and representative of the Mormon hierarchy, as 
a Senator of the United States; and (3) a dispo- 
sition of Federal patronage In Utah and surround- 
ing States in obedience to the wishes of the Hier- 
archy, expressed to the Administration through 
Apostle Reed Smoot." 

This Pearson's writer gives as his authority for 
this statement "a man high in the councils of the 
Republican party in the West, who supported both 
Roosevelt and Taft," and quotes from this high 
Western authority as follows: "As the fall of 1904 
arrived, the pressure of events became too fierce 
for Roosevelt to stand. You will recall that In 
September, the Republican leaders became panicky, 
and none more so than Roosevelt. It looked to all 
of them as If Parker might be elected. The sky 
was black with Democratic gains. In that crisis 
Roosevelt did what any one who knows him as 
I do, knows he zviJl do, In the thick of any fight 
— use the first weapon his hand can reach and 
fight In any way to win" ! Shade of E. H. 
Harrlman ! Thou are vindicated at last, even 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 6i 

out of the mouth of a Western supporter of 
Theodore ! 

In the nature of the case a corrupt poHtical deal 
of any sort is difficult to prove by direct testimony 
since usually the only witnesses to the compact are 
the criminal bargainers themselves. The only way 
to get at the truth of such bargains is by circum- 
stantial evidence — sometimes the most convincing 
of any. Taking stock, for instance, of the political 
and other indices surrounding the Smoot case, we 
find that Utah, which in 1896 had given Bryan a 
plurality of 33,116, and McKinley a small margin 
of 2,140 in 1900, gave Roosevelt a plurality of 
29,033 hi ig04. Apostle Hyrum Smith, son of 
Joseph F., speaking to his congregation in the 
Tabernacle on April 5, 1905, said: "I want to say 
this: we believe that in President Roosevelt we 
have a friend; and we believe that in the Latter- 
day Saints President Roosevelt has the greatest 
friendship among them; that there are no people 
in the world who are more friendly to him, and 
will remain friendly unto him just so long as he 
remains true, as he has been — to the cause of hu- 
manity!" We all know the Mormon interpreta- 
tion of "the cause of humanity." Again, in the 
Salt Lake Tabernacle, on April 4, 1909, Elder 
Benjamin E. Rich — a reputed three-ply polygamist 
and head of the Eastern Mormon Missions — gave 
out a statement which was later published in the 



62 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

Liahona, the official organ of the Mormon Church, 
of date October 15, 1909: "I want to say to you 
that this people never had a better friend in the 
White House than Theodore Roosevelt. There 
has never been a man there that understood this 
people as he understood them. He has been, and 
is, your friend. Many a conversation have I had 
with him concerning the struggles of this people 
and the building-up of this land with the aid of our 
fathers." 

Another interesting sidelight on the Roosevelt- 
Morman pact was furnished in the spring of 1909, 
when Senator Hopkins of Illinois was fighting for 
re-election to the United States Senate. Another 
aspirant for his seat — not Lorimer — brought out 
Hopkins's record in the Smoot trial in order to 
discredit him. Whereupon Hopkins, to clear him- 
self, had published in one of the Chicago papers a 
letter which he had received from President Roose- 
velt highly commending his course in the Smoot 
case. A similar letter from Roosevelt to Senator 
Knox was likewise given to the press. 

If further corroboration be needed of the en- 
tente cordiale subsisting between Colonel Roosevelt 
and the Latter-day Saints, may it not be found in 
the extremely friendly and indulgent tone adopted 
toward Mormonism in the pious Outlook since the 
Colonel became "contributing editor" ? 

Summing up the evidence on the Pearson's in- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 63 

dictment: Roosevelt did receive the Mormon vote 
in the 1904 election, and the electoral votes of the 
three States named; Reed Smoot did retain his seat 
in the United States Senate, over the emphatic pro- 
test of the whole non-Mormon population ; several 
Gentile Federal appointees were replaced by Mor- 
mons; and Senator Burrows's bill for a constitu- 
tional amendment aimed at polygamy was strangled 
in committee. 

So ! He who runs may read. 

The past two years, 19 10-12, witnessed a con- 
siderable agitation of the Mormon question in the 
Gentile press. Several large Eastern dailies sent 
out staff correspondents to explore the Mormon 
strongholds of the West, and printed their findings 
at great length; five sizable magazines in New 
York, Everbody's, McClure's, Cosmopolitan, 
Hampton's, and Pearson's — each contributed a ser- 
ies of articles to the literature of what is now called 
"the Mormon problem." The burden of testi- 
mony brought in by all these various investigators 
and expositors, sounds one unanimous note: that 
polygamy is as rampant as ever under the protec- 
tion of "the Prophet," and that he dominates his 
followers absolutely in business, politics, and social 
affairs. 

Judson Welliver, an admirer of Colonel Roose- 
velt, writing in January (19 10) number of 
Hampton's, on the baneful alliance between the 



64 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

Mormon Church and the Sugar Trust, affirmed: 
"There is no body of people in America so per- 
fectly organized, so completely controlled, politi- 
cally, and in business matters, as the Mormons." 
Alfred Henry Lewis, a one-time spell-binder for 
the Colonel, who after several months residing 
and spying in Mormon fastnesses, embodied his 
impressions of "The Viper on the National Hearth- 
stone" in a graphic series in the Cosmopolitan 
(191 1 ), says: "The present Mormon attitude to- 
ward the Federal Government is that of the cap- 
tive. The Church — they say, through superior 
force — is held in chains; and since it is permitted 
one to mislead a foe, the Mormons are free to lie 
to the United States or State authorities, whenever 
and wherever the truth would prove ill-timed. 
That is the Mormon creed. Every one from 
Prophet Smith and the twelve apostles — including 
Senator Smoot — down to the last mean handful of 
proselytes brought from Europe, is at liberty to lie ; 
he may deny his "blood atonement" oath, deny his 
hatred of our Government, deny polygamy, deny 
political domination, deny the numbers, the wealth, 
the purpose, the power, of the Mormon Church." 
If this be true, Prophet Smith must have felt 
pretty secure in the protection of his "friend" in 
the White House, to have spoken as frankly to the 
Senate Committee as he did concerning his marital 
pluralities. 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 65 

Touching the prevalence of present-day polyg- 
amy, the New York World correspondent testified 
that, at the Eighty-first Annual Conference of the 
Mormon Church, held on April 6, 191 1, eleven of 
the twenty-five highest church officials were known 
to be polygamists; and the Salt Lake Tribune, on 
various dates during the year 1910-11, published 
the names of 230 polygamists, with the names of 
their wives and places of residence, and no denial 
was offered. 

Mormon statistics reveal a startling growth of 
the propaganda abroad, since Smoot's election to 
the Senate. The outcome of his trial was cited by 
Mormon missionaries as a complete vindication of 
their system ; and their converts Increased from 600 
per year in 1906, to 1,200 In 1908. Mormon 
immigrants to this country, from 1903 to 19 10, 
increased proportionately, 

George B. Billings, commissioner of Immigra- 
tion at Boston, on November 2, 1908, gave out the 
statement: "About 700 to 800 Mormon converts, 
a majority of whom are probably women, pass 
through this port annually." Immigration officials 
claim that our laws, as at present constituted, are 
Inadequate to debar these Mormon Immigrants, 
who are coached by missionaries abroad, how to 
answer the Inspectors here, are provided with 
"show money," and otherwise find their pathway 
smoothed by Mormon agents at the various ports 



66 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

of entry. A high Government official who would 
not allow the use of his name — the usual official 
reticence — said at Washington, in June, 191 1: 
"When Reed Smoot retires from the United States 
Senate we may get some legislation that will en- 
able us to keep Mormons out of the country. 
Under the present laws our hands are tied so 
tightly that it is virtually impossible to prevent 
polygamists from entering." The only thing neces- 
sary to evade the law is for the immigrant to pro- 
fess his or her — usually her — disbelief in polyg- 
amy; and there are instances of inspectors being 
punished — on complaint of Senator Smoot — for 
questioning too closely these women converts to the 
Latter-day faith. When one remembers how easily 
under the Mormon code — as defined by Alfred 
Henry — the only difficulty of the law may be met; 
and that as a matter of fact, these Mormon women 
from Europe — in many cases young and silly girls 
— are "sealed" to the polygamous patriots of Utah 
and Idaho before they leave home, there is no prac- 
tical difference — to the non-Mormon understand- 
ing — between the law concerning Mormon aliens, 
as at present administered, and the licensing of 
"white slave traffic." 

Mr. Hans P. Freece, the young man commis- 
sioned by the Presbyterian Board of Home Mis- 
sions to expose the Mormon system at home and 
abroad, is of the opinion, that if the foreign supply 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 67 

could be shut off, Mormonlsm would soon die of 
inanition, due to the death or apostasy of the 
American-born "saints." 

Mr. Freece, who with his wife, spent a year 
(1910-11) in an anti-Mormon campaign in 
Europe, returned to this country in the fall of 
191 1 with a written endorsement of his work in 
England, signed by a dozen or more distinguished 
English clergymen, municipal dignitaries, and mem- 
bers of Parliament — among the last-mentioned, a 
son of Mrs. Humphrey Ward. Shortly after his 
return, Mr. Freece chancing in the office of the 
Outlook one day, was asked by a member of the 
staff, Mr. Townsend, why he did not call to talk 
with Colonel Roosevelt about his work; that "the 
Colonel was much interested in the Mormon ques- 
tion." On Mr. Freece's replying that while he 
would be very glad to talk with Colonel Roosevelt 
on the subject if he wished It, he did not care to 
intrude on him uninvited, Mr. Townsend said that 
he thought that an interview "could be arranged." 

Then, about September 15th, Mr. Freece re- 
ceived a note from Mr. Frank Harper, Roosevelt's 
private secretary, saying the Colonel would be glad 
to see him at a certain time, and Mr. Freece ac- 
cordingly presented himself at the Outlook office, 
and was at once admitted to the Colonel's presence. 
The following dialogue — as reported by Mr. 
Freece — ensued : 



68 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

Mr. Freece: "I called to see you at the sugges- 
tion of Mr. Townsend and your secretary, Mr. 
Harper, in regard to the Mormon question." 

Colonel Roosevelt; "Yes, yes." 

Mr. Freece: "I don't know, Mr. Roosevelt, 
whether you are aware of the fact, that Mormon 
elders, in order to carry on their propaganda with 
most success, do not hold up the lives of their great 
men as examples, to bolster their system, but are 
using the name of Theodore Roosevelt for that 
purpose." 

Mr. Freece then produced a copy of the Mormon 
magazine containing the statement from Benjamin 
E. Rich, before mentioned in this chapter, and laid 
it before his illustrious colloquist. 

Colonel Roosevelt : "Well, that is only his opin- 
ion. I do not know that I am the best friend they 
ever had." 

Mr. Freece: "True, it is only his opinion; but 
the matter in which I am interested is to know 
whether this Mormon high-priest and reputed 
polygamist has been invited by you many times to 
discuss Mormonism with you?" 

Colonel Roosevelt: "Yes I know Ben Rich, who 
has been down to the White House to talk it over 
with me quite a number of times. But it does not 
say here that the conversation was favorable to the 
Mormons. Only fools and knaves can get that out 
of it I" (This rings true and Hfe-like.) 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 69 

Mr. Freece: "Mr. Roosevelt, it seems to me, 
that when Mr. Rich states that he had been in 
numerous conversations with you about Mormon- 
ism, and then gives as his conclusion that you are 
'the best friend the Mormons ever had,' it would 
follow in the minds of most persons that your part 
of the conversation had been friendly to the sys- 
tem. However, I was more particularly anxious 
to know whether Ben Rich had been invited to the 
White House. Another thing I wish to speak 
about: when I was in Europe this summer the 
Mormons there had a letter which they claimed 
had been written by you in defence of Mormonism. 
They printed it in the English, Danish and Dutch 
languages, and distributed it to the people, claim- 
ing if the great ex-President of the United States 
spoke kind words for Mormons, the system must be 
all right." 

Colonel Roosevelt: "Well, what was that 
letter?" 

Mr. Freece : "It was the letter which they claim 
was written by you to Isaac Russell, a Mormon mis- 
sionary, and printed in Collier's Weekly last April. 

Colonel Roosevelt: "Oh, yes, I wrote that let- 
ter, and I am perfectly willing that the Mormons 
should use it if they print the entire letter." 

Mr. Freece: "The part I was interested in was 
the statement that your detectives out West were 
not able to find any cases of new polygamy?" 



70 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

Colonel Roosevelt: "Yes, that's true." 

Mr. Freece: "Well, when you were President, 
and Mr. Smoot was on trial, a number of men, such 
as Merrill, Hickman, Reynolds, and others, testi- 
fied under oath that they had married new wives 
since the Manifesto, and the chairman of the Sen- 
ate Committee declared in his report that such 
prominent Mormons as Taylor, Cowley, Teasdale, 
and others, also had taken nev>^ polygamous wives." 

Colonel Roosevelt: "I do not know those men." 

Mr. Freece: "Perhaps not, but you were cog- 
nizant of the sworn testimony, were you not?" 

Colonel Roosevelt: "Well, I did not pay much 
attention to the testimony, but I sent my detectives 
to look Into the matter, and I printed their report. 
They were the best I had on the force." 

Mr. Freece : "It seems very strange that those 
detectives could not find where these prominent 
Mormons were living; because everybody In Salt 
Lake knows where they live. Inquiry anywhere 
would have revealed their residences." 

Colonel Roosevelt: "I cannot help that. I sent 
them out, they brought back the report, and I 
printed It." 

Mr. Freece: "Furthermore, since that official 
report was printed, the Salt Lake Tribune has pub- 
lished the names of ov^er 230 men who have rec- 
ently taken plural wives. The Tribune gives the 
names of most of the wives, where the ceremony 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 71 

was performed, where the parties are now living, 
and in some instances the number of children that 
have been born." 

Colonel Roosevelt, rising and speaking angrily: 
"I do not care what the Tribune prints. I wouldn't 
believe it under oath — any quicker than I would 
the New York JForld, or Hampton's Magazine, or 
any of the Hearst papers!" And with this parting 
shot, the Colonel turned his back abruptly on his 
invited caller, and stalked across the room to begin 
conversation with another visitor. 

Space forbids giving the full text of Colonel 
Roosevelt's letter to Elder Russell, of date Feb- 
ruary 17, 191 1, — owing to the Colonel's copious 
epistolary style, — which the Mormons had found so 
valuable in enlisting foreign recruits; but it may be 
found, in all its wealth of expletive and tergiversa- 
tion, in Collier's Weekly of date April 15, 191 1. 
I will close this chapter with a few choice extracts 
from it, and brief comment thereon. "My dear 
Mr. Russell : I thank you for your letter calling my 
attention to the charges made against me in con- 
nection with an alleged bargain with the Mormon 
Church. The letter you enclosed contains a quo- 
tation from a magazine which states" — here fol- 
lowed the quoted passage from Pearson's, and the 
usual vehement denial: "No such bargain was ever 
in any way, directly or indirectly, suggested to, or 
considered by me. It is not merely an atrocious 



72 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

falsehood, but it could by no possibility be any- 
thing but a falsehood!" — Judge Parker will recall 
the peculiar ictus of this phrase. "Neither the 
Church, nor any one on behalf of the Church, ever 
agreed to deliver to me the votes of the States men- 
tioned, nor was any allusion to the matter ever 
made to me. Neither Senator Smoot, nor any 
other citizen of Utah, was, as far as I know, con- 
sulted about the patronage in the States surround- 
ing Utah, nor did the Mormon hierarchy, through 
Senator Smoot or any one else, ever express a single 
wish in connection with that patronage. ... As 
to the cessation for the movement for Federal con- 
trol of marriage, including divorce and polygamy, 
so far as I know, there never was such cessation; 
personally, I have always favored such control. 
. . . Whether it is especially needed as regards 
polygamous marriage, I cannot say. . . . On one 
occasion while I was President, a number of charges 
were made about these polygamous marriages in 
Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah, charges against some 
of our Federal officials even. . . . A very thorough 
investigation was made, and the charges were 
proved to be without the smallest basis of fact. It 
was finally found, a fourth-class postmistress, whose 
earnings were about $2^ per year — an old woman 
— had been plurally married about thirty years 
previously, but had long since ceased living with 
her husband!" (I respectfully submit, that this 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 73 

presidential investigator, universal regulator, and 
judge-of-all-the-earth, having run to cover this piti- 
ful offender, was bound, upon every principle of 
humanity — to either find this poor woman another 
husband, or raise her salary.) T. R. affirms fur- 
ther, that not only were his government officials 
found blameless as to polygamy, "but incidentally, 
the investigators were unable to find a single case 
of polygamous marriage entered into since the 
practice had been professedly abandoned." . . . 
And I may add, every Mormon with whom I 
spoke, assured me that since the public renuncia- 
tion of polygamy, the law had been observed in 
this respect, just as in others. ... As for the case 
of Senator Smoot, he came to me of his own ac- 
cord, and not only assured me that he was not a 
polygamist, but that he had never had relations 
with any woman except his own wife. . . . He also 
assured me that he had always done everything he 
could to have the law about polygamy obeyed, and 
most strongly upheld his Church's position in its 
public renunciation of polygamy. . . . I looked 
into the facts very thoroughly" — it will be recalled 
that he told Mr. Freece that he paid little attention 
to the testimony — "became convinced that Senator 
Smoot had told me the truth, and treated him ex- 
actly as I did all other Senators — that is, strictly 
on his merits as a public servant. I did not inter- 
fere in any way with his retention in the Senate," 



74 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

etc., etc., etc. This simple, child-like acceptance by 
T. R. — not only of the Vestal-virgin professions 
of the Honorable Smoot, but of all the other tales 
told him by his Mormon informers touching the 
existence of polygamy in their territory, makes one 
of the most affecting chapters in his most remark- 
able history. He who is known to be so sensitive 
to the presence of liars, that he has developed a 
Sherlock-Holmes faculty for spotting them in all 
sorts of disguises, was yet unable to find a single 
Mormon witness whom he deemed worthy of mem- 
bership in his favorite Club ! 

And yet his dear special-pleader and hero-wor- 
shipping delineator, Alfred Henry Lewis, says that 
it is the cardinal tenet in the Mormon creed — to 
lie! How will Alfred Henry and the Colonel 
ever "get together" on the Mormon question! 

T. R. concludes his disposition of the charges 
in the Russell letter as follows: "I have thus gone 
over, point by point, the infamous accusations made 
by the writer, whoever he was, whom you quoted" 
— (Richard Barry, another special writer disposed 
to deal gently with the Colonel for the most part) 
"accusations which brand with infamy the man who 
made them, and also the magazine editor who pub- 
lished them" — {Pearson's, another dear friend 
and admirer, alas — this is heart-breaking!) — "and 
any one who quotes them." (This gets the "in- 
famous brand" upon the Rev. R. M. Stevenson, a 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 75 

Presbyterian divine, and president of Westminster 
College in Salt Lake City, and upon my unworthy 
self.) Here the Colonel remarks further to the 
appreciative Russell: "There is a peculiar infamy 
in this species of slander, and the men engaged in 
It, do not stand one whit above any men who have 
really taken part in the practices which they affect 
to denounce. So much for these slanderers. Now 
a word to the Mormons" — but time and space call 
a halt — you can find it all in Collier's. In brief, 
T. R. concludes his Mormon letter with a warning 
so Pickwickian that one could imagine the "Saints" 
laughing at it — except that a Mormon sense of 
humor is unthinkable. At least we may fancy them 
Indulging some Inward chuckles, much as naughty 
children chuckle at the drastic threats of a weak 
mother, which long experience has taught them she 
will not enforce. Just how seriously the Mormons 
regarded the Roosevelt rebuke In this letter, is suffi- 
ciently evinced by their circulating it in three lan- 
guages all over their foreign mission field ! 

One only remaining thought is suggested by this 
Roosevelt Epistle to the Mormons. We note that 
the gravamen of reproof and exhortation is quickly 
and adroitly shifted from polygamy to race suicide, 
and a comparison Instituted very flattering to the 
former. This sheds a new light on Mr. Roose- 
velt's espousal of the Mormon cause. For what- 
ever the Mormon's infirmities and short-comings, it 



76 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

cannot be charged that "the artificial restriction of 
families" is among them. He has no sin of "will- 
ful sterility" resting on his soul. No wonder the 
Colonel loves him, aside from his "unity of action" 
in elections I It is all clear as day. 

And now lest I be accused of presenting only one 
side of this Roosevelt-Mormon picture — for there 
are always at least two sides to T. R. — I will state 
that it is a matter of record that the Roosevelt 
preachments against polygamy are to be found in 
his public documents, as well as his private corre- 
spondence — though these sometimes become inter- 
changeable. In one of his messages he even mildly 
advocated Federal control of polygamy and a Con- 
stitutional amendment therefor. True, this was in 
his palmy, sovereign days, when he was advocating 
Federal control of pretty nearly everything, and 
holding the term "Federal" synonymous with 
"Rooseveltian"; still, the fact remains, he did talk 
against the Mormon evil, and — as before recited — 
he advised Utah against sending a Mormon to the 
United States Senate. 

If any one holds this to be inconsistent with his 
defence of Reed Smoot, and otherwise favoring 
the Mormons, it only shows he hasn't the proper 
light on T. R.'s dual — sometimes kaleidoscopic, 
personality. Did he not slap the "rich malefactor" 
with one hand, and receive the Harriman contribu- 
tion with the other? Ha§ he not vociferously de- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 77 

nounced the "interests," and granted immunity to 
those "so friendly" to himself? Scored the "cor- 
ruptionists," and protected the "court favorites"? 
And railed at all the "bosses" except his own ac- 
complices? It will be seen that T, R.'s Mormon 
record is precisely in line with all his other 
"policies." 



CHAPTER IV 

HOW T. R. FOUGHT THE "bOSSES" OF NEW MEXICO 
IN 1906-7 

Colonel Roosevelt's valiant boast that, in this 
19 1 2 campaign, he is leading the fight against 
"boss-rule" and "machine politics" makes pertinent 
an illuminative page from his past, in re of the ad- 
ministration of Herbert J. Hagerman, Territorial 
Governor of New Mexico from January 22, 1906, 
to May 3, 1907. Hagerman was appointed gov- 
ernor by President Roosevelt upon the recommen- 
dation of Hon. Ethan Allen Hitchcock, then Secre- 
tary of the Interior, whose secretary of embassy 
Hagerman had been when Hitchcock was Ambas- 
sador to Russia. 

In grieved tones and with virtuous mien, our for- 
mer President told the new governor how dis- 
tressed he was by the tales which had reached his 
ears of conditions In New Mexico, where political 
free-booters had been for years using the Republi- 
can organization for their own selfish ends — to ex- 
ploit and corrupt the Territory. For this reason 
he was appointing "a man of the Hagerman type" 
— able, clean, and fearless — and, without consult- 
ing the machine out there. In order that he might 

78 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 79 

have a free hand in the drastic reforms he was ex- 
pected to inaugurate, and for which was pledged the 
full support of the Federal power. 

In a word, Governor Hagerman understood that 
he was given carte blanche to "clean up the gang" 
in New Mexico, and forthwith went his unsuspect- 
ing way, to the prompt and full execution of his 
appointed task. The principal members of the New 
Mexican "gang," which Hagerman had been dele- 
gated to chastise, were H. O. Bursum, chairman of 
the Territorial Republican Committee and Super- 
intendent of the Territorial Prison; William H. 
Andrews (the notorious "Bull" Andrews), dele- 
gate to Congress from New Mexico, and formerly 
a member of the Quay machine in Pennsylvania; 
Major W. H. H. Llewellyn, United States Attor- 
ney, who posed as a Rough-rider intimate of Roose- 
velt; Attorney-General Pritchard; J. Wallace Ray- 
nolds, Territorial Secretary, and Max Frost, editor 
of the Santa Fe New Mexican. 

The new Governor removed Bursum from the 
office of Prison Superintendent, after an investiga- 
tion revealed him nearly $5,000 short in his ac- 
counts — which he was forced to refund — and other 
evidences of flagrant malfeasance; he replaced At- 
torney-General Pritchard with Captain Reid, and 
made one or two other official changes. Having 
reported these to the Secretary of the Interior at 
Washington, Hagerman received from the Presi- 



8o BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

dent the following telegram, dated March 13, 
1906: 

"Secretary Hitchcock has shown me your letter. 
I entirely approve of your course. I shall give you 
an entirely free hand in the Territory, because I 
hold you to an absolute responsibility for the con- 
duct of affairs. Remove, whenever you deem wise, 
the three men whom you report as unsatisfactory, 
and any others whom you find unsatisfactory. If 
any of my appointees hamper you, let me know at 
once, and I will remove them. You are welcome 
to show this telegram to any one you desire. 

"(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt." 

How well President Roosevelt kept the pledge 
of this telegram, as well as his other promises of 
support to his reform appointee, will appear as this 
narrative — based on official documents — shall un- 
fold. 

Although the changes effected by Governor Ha- 
german were all good, from an administrative point 
of view, and approved by all honest citizens of the 
Territory, without regard to party, his efforts to 
cleanse the Augean stables of New Mexican politics 
quite naturally aroused the bitterest antagonism of 
the members of the plunderbund, who soon saw 
that unless they could rid themselves of the new 
Executive they would have to go out of business — 
and thus they began to plot his downfall. Before 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 8i 

many months had elapsed they found the President 
of the United States a compliant accessory to their 
scheme. 

Had Hagerman's faith in Roosevelt been less 
absolute, he might have discerned "the cloud no 
bigger than a man's hand" which was ultimately to 
o'ercast his whole sky, and cut short his reforming 
career in the Territory, in the following letter from 
William Loeb, Jr., in March, 1906: 

"I am directed by the President to ask whether 
there is any position under you, or subject to 
appointment by the President in New Mexico, 
to which Captain George Curry can be ap- 
pointed. Curry is coming home soon, and the 
President very much wishes to provide him with a 
position." 

Governor Hagerman replying that the only posi- 
tion in the Territory open at that writing was that 
of Game Warden, Loeb wrote again, in April of 
that year: 

"The President doubts if Captain Curry could 
accept the position of Game Warden, as the salary 
is not sufficient." 

The next time Governor Hagerman encountered 
"the President's desire to provide a place for Cap- 
tain Curry" (one of the Rough-rider braves then 
in the Philippines), nearly a year had elapsed, and 



82 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

the President's move for the accomplishment of his 
desire was so disguised that the Governor did not 
recognize it until subsequent events enabled him to 
trace the fateful threads of hidden fire connecting 
plot and plotter. 

In the closing days of the Territorial Legislature 
which convened in January, 1907, a "spite resolu- 
tion" was introduced into the Lower House — which 
had been thoroughly organized by Mr. Bursum, the 
deposed Prison Superintendent — charging the Gov- 
ernor with misconduct, in re of the Pennsylvania 
Development Co., and providing a committee to be 
appointed by the Speaker, who was bitterly hostile 
to Hagerman, to investigate the charges and report 
their findings to the House. 

The resolution was adopted, and the report of 
the committee was just what was expected by the 
conspirators — one-sided, false, and venomous. The 
special message sent by the Governor, fully explain- 
ing his action in the case, and a perfect defence to 
any one looking for the truth, was ruled "out of 
order" by the Speaker; and the message was never 
read nor communicated to the House in any man- 
ner! The "report" was put into the hands of a 
subordinate attorney in the Department of Justice 
at Washington — a Mr. Cooley — who, without 
waiting to hear a word on the other side, rendered 
a preliminary decision adverse to Governor Hager- 
man. 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 83 

And President Roosevelt, also without waiting 
to hear anything in rebuttal, accepted this ex parte 
"Cooley Report" unreservedly, and made it the al- 
leged basis of his ultimate action in the matter. No 
intimation of the President's attitude was vouch- 
safed to Governor Hagerman at this juncture, how- 
ever. On the contrary, his friend Mr. Barnes, who 
had been in Washington in February, stated on his 
return that Secretary Garfield (who had succeeded 
Hitchcock as head of the Interior Department) had 
told him there was no truth in the rumor circulat- 
ing in New Mexico, that the President would re- 
quest Hagerman's resignation. 

This statement being questioned, Barnes tele- 
graphed the Secretary, and received the following 
reply : 

"Will C. Barnes, 

"Santa Fe, N. M. 
"Answering your telegram, you were correct in 
quoting me as saying that the Department approved 
Governor Hagerman's efforts for honest adminis- 
tration, and that his removal was not contemplated. 
"(Signed) J.R.Garfield." 

Of the same date as the Garfield telegram 
(March 7), a letter from Mr. Loeb informed Gov- 
ernor Hagerman that "the President would like to 
see him at the White House on the morning of 
March 28"; but upon Hagerman's signifying his 



84 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

readiness to comply, the invitation was withdrawn 
by telegram on March 20. 

Garfield likewise wired the Governor: "I prefer 
that you postpone your leave of absence for a few 
weeks." 

Finally, on April 8, Hagerman was notified that 
"the Secretary would be pleased to see him In Wash- 
ington whenever it was convenient for him to 
come"; and he left Santa Fe immediately, accom- 
panied by Mr. Levi Hughes, the newly appointed 
Territorial Treasurer, arriving in Washington the 
night of April 12. 

Early on the morning of the 13th, they called on 
Secretary Garfield, who told Hagerman the Presi- 
dent was waiting to see him, and Instructed him to 
report at the White House at 1 1 o'clock. Neither 
from the previous correspondence, nor from the 
Secretary In this interview, could Hagerman obtain 
an Inkling as to what was wanted of him; but at the 
appointed hour he repaired to the White House 
with Mr. Hughes, who alone was admitted to "the 
presence," while the Governor was requested to 
wait outside with Mr. Loeb. About noon Mr. Gar- 
field came from the President's office, and handed 
Hagerman a copy of the "Cooley Report," with 
the message that the President desired him to re- 
turn at 3 o'clock to "talk over the Report, and one 
or two other matters." 

Then, for the first time, the Governor understood 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 85 

that he had been summoned to Washington to an- 
swer charges in the Pennsylvania Development Co. 
land matter. To his surprised protest that the time 
was rather short In which to digest a voluminous 
report and prepare an answer, Mr. Garfield offered 
no comment. 

In the anteroom Mr. Hughes was waiting, mani- 
festly much disturbed over his Interview with the 
President; who, as soon as he learned that Hughes 
had accompanied Hagerman to Washington, 
showed symptoms of deep anger, and told Mr. 
Hughes "it would be absolutely useless for him to 
say anything in the Governor's defence ; that what 
he had done was so bad It would be ridiculous 
to listen to any friend of his." He further in- 
timated that Hagerman had surrendered the 
deeds to the Pennsylvania Co., "In order to get 
the endorsement of the Democratic Territorial 
Convention, and to harm Delegate Andrews in his 
campaign." 

Delegate Andrews, be it remembered, was a most 
conspicuous exponent of that particular brand of 
politics which President Roosevelt had expressly 
deputized Governor Hagerman to stamp out In 
New Mexico ! Hagerman says of him : "His repu- 
tation was so opposed in every way to the Ideal I 
had conceived of Roosevelt, that I confess I felt 
much chagrin when I discovered that the President 
was championing Mr. Andrews." 



86 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

After this, Governor Hagerman foresaw that his 
hearing before the President would be a mere for- 
mality; but, at the appointed hour — after reading 
as much of the "Cooley Report" as possible in the 
time allotted — he once more presented himself at 
the White House. Mr. Roosevelt started "the hear- 
ing" by telling the Governor that what he had done 
was so bad his usefulness in New Mexico was 
ended; that if he did not know him to be honest, 
he would have summarily removed him on the Coo- 
ley Report alone; that if he had been "an ordinary 
Governor," he would never have given him an 
opportunity to come to Washington at all ! 
What followed is best given in Hagerman's own 
words : 

"The President went on to say, in effect, that he 
desired my resignation to be brought about with as 
little annoyance and pain to me as would be con- 
sistent with his opinion about 'the end of my use- 
fulness in New Mexico.' He wished the contents 
of the Cooley Report to remain known only to 
himself, Mr. Garfield, Mr. Cooley, and myself. 
He wished me to go back to New Mexico and send 
in my resignation; on receiving it, he would write 
a private letter for my eyes alone, in which he would 
say my usefulness had ended, and, therefore, he ac- 
cepted my resignation ; and then he would write an- 
other letter for the office files, and for publication — 
if I desired to publish it — in which he would say I 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 87 

was strictly upright and fearless, and would men- 
tion what I had done for the Territory. Turning 
to the Secretary, he asked to be reminded what I 
had done, when the time came for writing this sec- 
ond letter, the first draft of which I might return 
to him with any suggestions and additions of my 
own, before the final draft was signed by him — the 
draft which might he published! 

"This proposal in regard to the letters seemedvery 
extraordinary to me; that one in his position should 
want to employ so devious and unusual a method 
for accomplishing a simple result. I told him I was 
ready to give him my resignation then and there, 
intimating politely that I thought this the more 
simple and dignified course. He did not desire it, 
however, and I decided to let the matter take its 
way. When given an opportunity to speak, I went 
over, as fully as I could, the land matter, and asked 
him how it was, that this — which at the worst could 
only be called an error of judgment — could offset 
all the other things I had done for the public weal 
in New Mexico? 

"He replied that *it was infinitely more than an 
error of judgment; that it was a very serious of- 
fence.' While I could hold his reluctant attention, 
I briefly reviewed the achievements of my adminis- 
tration in line with what I thought he wanted done 
— all which was hastily brushed aside as he indi- 
cated 'the hearing' was ended; and reiterated that 



88 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

the incident had been very painful to him, 
that he was 'deeply grieved' to have to take the 
step he was taking. During the interview Sec- 
retary Garfield only spoke when addressed by 
the President, and then in briefest terms of ac- 
quiescence." 

Before leaving Washington, however, Governor 
Hagerman demanded of the Secretary a hearing 
on the Pennsylvania Development Co. case before 
the law officers of the Department; and this was 
granted, though Garfield warned him: "When a 
man in an appointive position disagrees with the 
President, there is nothing for him to do but ac- 
cept the President's point of view." 

The Departmental lawyers, Mr. Woodruff and 
Mr. Holcombe, after going thoroughly into the 
case, sustained Hagerman's action, and promised 
to give their opinion to the Secretary, though Mr. 
Holcombe said he had never asked for it. (Mr. 
Hagerman has heard from various sources that 
the subject of his eviction from the governorship 
of New Mexico, is one which Mr. Garfield refuses 
to discuss.) 

Governor Hagerman went from Washington to 
St. Louis; and there, on April 17, he saw an Asso- 
ciated Press dispatch from the White House that 
"Governor Hagerman had told the President he 
would resign, and that Captain Curry had been ap- 
pointed." 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 89 

Thus did Mr. Roosevelt keep his part of his 
own pre-arranged program. When the news 
reached New Mexico, it raised a storm of protests. 
A mass meeting was held at Albuquerque, voicing 
the popular indignation; two leading lawyers of 
the Territory, one a Democrat and the other a Re- 
publican, came to Washington to plead the Gov- 
ernor's cause with the President. The only answer 
anybody got from him was that "the incident was 
closed." 

On April 22, Governor Hagerman sent in his 
formal resignation, and on May 3 he received the 
following : 

"The White House, 
"Washington, April 29, 1907. 
"My Dear Governor Hagerman: — 

"In response to your letter of 2 2d inst., I ac- 
cept your resignation, to take effect forthwith. 
While matters which I went over with you ver- 
bally, and which it Is not necessary now to recapitu- 
late, make It necessary to request your resignation, 
I wish to say that I am entirely convinced of your 
personal Integrity, and your zealous desire to ac- 
complish good results for the Territory. Much 
that you have done was of lasting importance to 
do; and while I did not think It for the Interests 
of the public to continue you In your present po- 
sition, I am glad to state I believe there are many 
positions in the public service which you could fill 



90 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

with honor to yourself and profit to the Govern- 
ment. 

"Wishing you all success in your future life, be- 
lieve me, "Very truly yours, 

"(Signed) Theodore Roosevelt." 

An interesting sidelight on this letter is an inci- 
dent which occurred several years later in a club in 
St. Louis, when a gentleman, on being introduced 
to Mr. Hagerman, inquired if he were the ex-Gov- 
ernor of New Mexico. Answered in the affirma- 
tive, this gentleman related he had always wanted 
to meet Hagerman, because of an interview he had 
partly overhead between President Roosevelt and 
Assistant Attorney-General Cooley (author of the 
memorable "report"), upon the occasion of his 
calling at the White House with Mr. Cooley on 
or near April 13, 1907. In the presence of this 
visitor, Roosevelt began talking to Cooley about 
Hagerman, saying the matter was troubling him a 
great deal, and that they "would have to do some- 
thing to fix it up." He asked Cooley whether he 
did not think the governorship of Porto Rico 
might be offered to Hagerman — and at that mo- 
ment they withdrew into an adjoining room, and 
the visiting gentleman heard no more. 

It will be observed that this story tallies with 
the closing sentence in the Roosevelt letter just 
quoted, and serves to accentuate by contrast the 
general tone and purport of a second letter from 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 91 

the same source, penned two days later, May i, 
1907, from which we gather that the Immediate 
and aggravating cause of the presidential change- 
of-front toward the Hagerman character, that 
which converted it over night from benevolent in- 
tention to malevolent accusation, was the receipt of 
two telegrams : One addressed by Governor Ha- 
german to Hon. Gifford Pinchot, and the other by 
his father to the Hon. Elihu Root, — indicating the 
wide range of the Roosevelt counselors at that 
time. 

The Pinchot telegram — assuming the Presi- 
dent's ignorance of the fact — asked to have it 
brought to his personal attention that hundreds of 
persons in New Mexico sent telegrams protesting 
against his acceptance of Hagerman's resignation. 
This, of course, offered needless irritation to a 
presidential conscience already perturbed, and 
seeking to quiet its qualms and placate its victim 
with an adroit tender of official patronage; and it 
Is no surprise to find "offended majesty" writing to 
the hapless ex-Governor: "This renders it neces- 
sary to speak very plainly to you !" But, in order 
that the full extent of the Hagerman offending be 
known, and nothing lost of Its exasperating de- 
tails, we quote the entire telegram sent by the elder 
Hagerman to the State Department : 

"Please ask President to delay action on resig- 
nation of Governor Hagerman until latter has time 



92 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

to answer charges which are known to be un- 
founded, and made by party free-booters to re- 
store themselves to power. President has been 
shamefully deceived, and put In false light by men 
unworthy of his confidence. 

"Last week Major Llewellyn stated to reputable 
men In Roswell that he knew, six weeks before, 
that President would remove Hagerman and ap- 
point Curry. This Is causing Impression very un- 
favorable to the President; he owes It to his good 
name, to the Republican Party, to the people of 
New Mexico, to truth and justice, to sift this thing 
to the bottom before final action. ... I 
send this to you, because of the Impression here 
that communications about this matter never reach 
the President. "Respectfully, 

"(Signed) J. J. Hagerman." 

The main count In the presidential Indictment of 
Governor Hagerman, contained In the "plain- 
spoken" letter of May i, was that his delivery of 
the deeds to the Pennsylvania Development Co., 
for land acquired before he became Governor, 
consummated "a grossly fraudulent transaction, 
which could not have been completed without this 
action, made with full knowledge of Its fraudulent 
character." 

This main charge is garnished and embellished 
with such delicate suggestions as "the inference 
which ought legitimately to be drawn from the 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 93 

facts," that the Governor had been actuated in his 
"grossly improper and presumably unlawful con- 
duct" by his desire to secure Democratic aid in the 
faction fight; and "there seemed" — to the sensitive 
Roosevelt conscience — "no moral doubt that, in 
appointing six members of the Legislative Council 
to lucrative positions," Hagerman was guilty of 
"bartering offices for legislative support 1" 

The grave accusation: "You accepted from Mr. 
Hopewell his personal check for $11,113" — ^^ ^ 
cursory reading, might easily convey the notion 
that this was the Governor's personal fee for aid- 
ing the "grossly fraudulent" deal, which probably 
under strong outward pressure had been "subse- 
quently deposited with the Land Commissioner" — 
so careful is Mr. Roosevelt to withhold the fact 
that the Territory had derived any benefit from 
Governor Hagerman's action. 

Then follows the gratuitous slap at the elder 
Hagerman: "Secretary Root has handed me a 
long telegram from your father. . . . What 
he means by saying the charges are unfounded, I 
am unable to imagine. . . . With the gossip 
that your father repeats, and the inferences he 
draws thereform, I have no concern. 
Charges of a very grave character were made to 
me against your father himself, in connection with 
his land transactions in the past. Whether they 
were true or not, I cannot say, since a preliminary 



94 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

investigation showed action on them would be 
barred by the statute of Hmitations." 

This May i letter is marked throughout with a 
lofty tone of outraged virtue and long-suffering 
forbearance, so befitting a righteous judge wishing 
to temper justice with clemency! Particularly im- 
pressive are the references to the findings of the 
Departments of Justice and of the Interior, as lend- 
ing an air of official sanction to the presidential 
spleen. 

In very favorable contrast is the quiet self-re- 
straint and dignified candor of Governor Hager- 
man's reply: "Due regard to your exalted station 
forbids that I should answer your letter in terms 
justifiable under the provocation it offers. . . . 
I hope, however, that my reply will not be less 
forceful because of the absence of harsh lan- 
guage." He then reviews the facts, in re of the 
Pennsylvania Development Co., as he had re- 
viewed them before at the White House and to the 
lawyers of the Interior Department: At the time 
Governor Hagerman, acting on the advice of his 
attorney-general, dehvered the deeds to Mr. Hope- 
well, agent for the Pennsylvania Co., the land de- 
scribed therein had been for years in the possession 
of the company, or its assigns. Ten thousand dol- 
lars of the purchase money had been paid, and the 
remainder, a little over $10,000, had been paid by 
a note; and the deeds had been executed, but re- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 95 

tained In the Land Commissioner's office as surety 
for the unpaid balance. Quantities of timber had 
been cut by the company, for which the sum pre- 
viously paid was Inadequate compensation; a suit 
by the Territory to recover the value of the timber 
would have been of doubtful efficacy; and the 
deeds, whether in the Territorial Land Office or 
in the possession of the company, would have been 
equally available as a defence to any such suit. If 
the title could pass at all in this case, it had 
as a matter of equity already passed. If the 
whole business was, as the President declared, 
unlawful from its inception, the mere delivery of 
the deeds could have no validating effect. Every- 
thing possible to complete the alleged unlawful 
contract had been done before Hagerman came 
into office, and his surrender of the deeds neither 
helped the company nor impaired the rights of the 
Territory, and was of no importance except as It 
enabled him to get for the Territory something 
over $11,000, which might serve as Indemnity for 
the timber — if the attempted sale were declared 
void. 

Mr. Hagerman then reminds his august accuser 
that all this had been embodied In a report sub- 
mitted by him In September, 1906; that he had 
been advised by the Secretary of the Interior that 
the report was satisfactory to him, and he believed 
equally so to the President; and concludes his de- 



96 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

fence with the manly words: "And now, Mr. 
President, permit me to say that, but for your gra- 
tuitous and irrelevant attack upon my father, I 
might have refrained from making any reply to 
your letter; notwithstanding it is easy to refute 
every suggestion of improper conduct you make 
against me. My father is advanced in years, and 
in feeble health; he has spent much of his life and 
fortune in the development of the West, and has 
never, to my knowledge, been accused of fraudu- 
lent or improper conduct. I, therefore, ask you, 
as a square man, to make your allegations specific, 
so that he can meet them; and I will undertake for 
him that he will not plead any 'statute of limita- 
tions.' I submit that every principle of fairness 
requires that you withdraw what you said about 
my father, or that you say more. 

"(Signed) H. J. Hagerman." 

This elicited a brief, sharp reply, through Mr. 
Loeb, of date May 23, 1907: 

"Sir:— 

"I am directed by the President to state that 
what he said about your father was. In view of 
your father's telegram, the least that could be said. 
The President says, moreover, that your explana- 
tions explain nothing, and do not aid your defence, 
as they leave the statement of the Assistant Attor- 
ney-General unaffected." 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 97 

The elder Hagerman wrote twice to President 
Roosevelt, earnestly and respectfully asking him to 
state specifically the charges against him, and who 
had made them. There was never the slightest 
acknowledgment of these letters. 

Corroborative of the telegram which was made 
both the occasion and the defence of Roosevelt's 
unwarranted attack, is the following affidavit, of 
which Governor Hagerman holds the original : 

"Territory of New Mexico, 
"County of Chaves, ss. 
"J. F. Hinkle, being duly sworn on oath, states 
that on April 20, 1907, near the Grand Central 
Hotel in Roswell, affiant met Major W. H. H. 
Llewellyn, and remarked: 'Well, Major, you fel- 
lows have succeeded in getting Hagerman out.' To 
which Llewellyn replied : 'I did not have anything 
to do with it, but I knew Curry would be appointed 
six weeks ago. I was bound in confidence not to 
mention It until after the appointment was made.' 
"(Signed) J. F. Hinkle. 
"Subscribed and sworn to before me this May 
30, 1907. 

"(Signed) Myrtie Aldrige, 

"Notary Public." 

The Llewellyrt statement received further cor- 
roboration some months later from Governor 
Curry, who stated at a banquet given him In Ros- 



98 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

well, on August 6, that the governorship of New 
Mexico had been ofered him in February (1907) 
before he left the Philippines. This was before 
the adjournment of the Territorial Legislature; 
before the introduction of the "spite resolution"; 
before the date of Garfield's telegram to Barnes. 
And this was "the gossip" with which President 
Roosevelt stated he "had no concern 1" 

If further confirmation were needed of the pre- 
arranged verdict in the Hagerman case — as well 
as the whole opera bouffe character of Roosevelt's 
reform program in New Mexico — it was furnished 
by events following Governor Hagerman's re- 
moval. Having thundered In the index of the 
Territorial land transactions, it was, of course. In- 
cumbent to keep up the mimic show a little longer 
— until public attention could be averted. 

In the Summer of 1907 Messrs. McHarg and 
Gordon were sent out to make "a thorough inves- 
tigation" of public lands and other matters in 
New Mexico; but when, instead of establishing 
Hagerman's guilt and sustaining the President's 
verdict, the investigation brought to light the 
shady records of the men upon whose testimony 
the verdict had been rendered, and likewise impli- 
cated some of the President's personal friends, the 
Investigators were called off, and soon returned to 
Washington. Their activities, with the net results, 
may be briefly summarized: Suit was brought 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 99 

against the Pennsylvania Development Co., the 
American Lumber Co., and others, for the recov- 
ery of lands and timber sold by the Territory prior 
to Governor Hagerman's induction to office. These 
sales had been made in violation of a restrictive 
provision in the Act of Congress, June 21, 1898, 
regulating the sale of public lands; said provision 
limiting the quantity which might be sold to each 
person, or corporation, to 160 acres; but, being 
regarded as unwise, had been disregarded by New 
Mexican authorities almost from its inception. 
Quantities of land largely in excess of 160 acres 
had passed to the possession of individuals and 
corporations, with the approval of Governor, 
Land Commissioner, and Legislative Assembly. In 
many instances large sums had been spent for im- 
provements, flourishing business houses erected on 
these lands; and, because of the complications aris- 
ing therefrom, the lawyers of the Interior Depart- 
ment were very chary of advice or opinions for the 
guidance of a perplexed Executive seeking to 
square the rights of the Territory, and the rights of 
purchasers, with the letter of the law. Governor 
Hagerman, therefore, receiving no answer to his 
numerous appeals to the Department, was forced 
to exercise his own discretion, assisted by the advice 
of his attorney-general. 

After several months of probing and agitating 
by the Government agents, no indictments were 



loo BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

found against any one for connection with the land 
sales; but nineteen persons were Indicted for al- 
leged fraudulent coal land entries. Shortly there- 
after a Washington dispatch announced "all but 
three or four of the nineteen indictments will be 
dismissed." As a matter of fact, all the coal land 
cases were in a few months dismissed, and Assist- 
ant Attorney-General Cooley issued the following 
statement: "I cannot talk for publication about 
the Department's plans in detail; but I can say that 
Mr. Hagerman will not be indicted, and that 
whatever may be the facts about his connection 
with land matters in the Territory, he has not been 
guilty of any moral wrong." 

Mr. Cooley was subsequently appointed District 
Judge In New Mexico, and sought through Gov- 
ernor Curry an interview with ex-Governor Hager- 
man, maintaining to him that, upon the evidence 
presented to him, he could not make any other 
"report" than the one he rendered; but that since 
coming to New Mexico and realizing conditions 
there, he wanted Hagerman's friendship, etc., etc. 
In view of this and the further fact that it no- 
where appears from the records that the 
"Cooley Report" was ever submitted to the 
Attorney-General for approval, the inference seems 
not wholly strained, that this weighty document 
— declared to be the sole basis of Roosevelt's 
action — may have been framed at the dictation, 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS loi 

and under the express direction of the President 
himself. 

The documentary proofs of this story — includ- 
ing the official correspondence between Roosevelt, 
Hagerman, and Garfield — are all contained in a 
pamphlet issued by the ex-governor for private 
circulation in 1908, copies of which ex-President 
Eliot of Harvard is said to have advised placing 
in all the public libraries of the country. In con- 
cluding his statement, Governor Hagerman says: 
"The President may have been influenced in this 
matter by higher motives of public policy than ap- 
pears on the face of things; but he has never re- 
vealed to any one, to my knowledge, what those 
motives were. Irrespective of the justice or in- 
justice of his acts concerning me personally, it is 
not unfair to summarize the effects of them upon 
New Mexico as follows : 

L A distinct lowering of the standards of pub- 
lic morality, and the fostering of moral cowardice 
in regard to public affairs. 

II. The rehabilitation of a corrupt and dis- 
credited political machine, hated or feared by all 
decent people in the Territory : by virtue of which 
"Bull" Andrews returned to Congress, and Mr. 
Bursum reimbursed himself from the Territorial 
Treasury for the $5,000 shortage he had been 
forced to pay into it. 

III. The intimidation and subserviency of pub- 



102 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

lie officials throughout the Territory, tending to- 
ward the growth of a fawning bureaucracy. 

IV. The widespread belief that special priv- 
ileges and immunities are granted by the Adminis- 
tration for political reasons to unworthy men, and 
that defamation and persecution are sure to follow 
him who incurs Its displeasure. 

And it was thus that "Colonel" Roosevelt, when 
President, purified politics in New Mexico, and 
administered his favorite nostrum of "the square 
deal" to the Hagermans — father and son. 



CHAPTER V 

SOME EPISODES AND SIDELIGHTS OF THE AFRICAN 
EXPEDITION 

When Roosevelt set sail for the African hunting- 
grounds, in the Spring of 1909, not nearly so many 
people on this side the Atlantic were wishing "the 
lions might do their duty," as were pictured in his 
egotistic fancy. 

Not even the plethoric gentlemen of Wall Street 
— who, he had been at such pains to convince the 
multitude, were especially hostile — gave him much 
anxious thought, one way or the other. They, with 
the great majority of us — a few deluded worshipers 
excepted — were perfectly content to have him "play 
around" with the lions, and other jungle beasts; 
amuse himself — and others — in European courts, 
before high-brow societies literary, scientific, or 
otherwise, and give this country a brief respite. 

Owing to the ceaseless efforts of his untiring 
press-bureau, however, the country was not per- 
mitted to enjoy the complete rest from T. R., to 
which it was justly entitled, and which the lifting 
of his strenuous presence should have secured. His 
name never disappeared from the public prints; 
every step of his journey, and every incident of his 
sojourn abroad, was duly chronicled in scare-heads, 

103 



I04 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

from the attempted assassination on shipboard on 
the outward voyage — observed only by a few hand- 
picked witnesses, to the graceful flip-flop on the 
steps of the Vatican on the homeward route — 
staged for world observation by the forehanded ex- 
pedient of giving the diplomatic correspondence to 
the Associated Press without letting the Papal secre- 
tary know anything about it ! 

As soon as the Roosevelt ship, with its cargo of 
newspaper men, artists, and photographers, as well 
as "faunal naturalists" and gun-experts, touched 
shore at various Mediterranean ports, American 
dispatches kept us informed of the eager commo- 
tion among all the royal personages — or their repre- 
sentatives — within a radius of many miles, to sig- 
nalize with befitting attentions their grateful ap- 
preciation of T. R.'s approach. Only certain cor- 
repondents of French newspapers evinced a carping 
disposition. One of these Is accredited with the ill- 
natured remark: "When the Caesar of modern de- 
mocracy goes hunting, Europe, Asia, Africa, and 
America climb to their windows and watch the cara- 
van of publicity pass." Another — with calmer in- 
spection — observed that Roosevelt seemed absorbed 
in self; that he displayed no interest in, and no 
appreciation of, the beauties and art treasures at 
Naples — only impatience to be off to the African 
wilds and the slaughter of the innocents; and the 
writer contrasts this behavior with the "nobler 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 105 

breeding of the Emperor William, who asked to be 
left alone before a marble bust which affirmed the 
eternity of beauty." Another French reporter re- 
lates that Roosevelt's talk was all of himself and his 
achievements; that he boasted: "I have fought the 
Oil kings and the Steel emperors of my own land. 
They tried to break my back, but my back is still 
intact" ! 

This Rooseveltian boast on a foreign shore in 
1909 is highly interesting in the light of the 191 1- 
12 revelations in this country — brought out by Con- 
gressional investigation and established by sworn 
testimony — that Roosevelt, when President, refused 
to prosecute the Sugar Trust upon evidence which 
his Assistant Attorney-General told the Congres- 
sional Committee was sufficient to secure a convic- 
tion; and upon which the receiver of an independent 
sugar company — wrecked by the Trust — had 
caused the latter in a private suit to disgorge $2,- 
000,000; that he was accessory before the fact to 
the absorption of the Tennessee Coal and Iron 
Company by the Steel Trust in 1907; and that he 
halted the Government's suit against the Harvester 
Trust, and locked up the evidence at the request 
of his dear friend, George W. Perkins, who, by 
some curious and wholly unrelated fortuity, is now 
serving in the disinterested and patriotic role of 
campaign manager for the new "Bull Moose" 
Party ! 



io6 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

All this, of course, the foreign publicity hosts 
did not know in 1909 — their ignorance in this re- 
spect being hardly greater than the average Ameri- 
can's — and were accordingly mightily impressed 
by the boastful utterances of the great American 
Trust Buster. The impertinent comment of the 
French correspondents received fitting rebuke by 
the Colonel's enrolling one of them, M. Jean de 
Bonnefon, of Le Journal de Paris, in the Ananias 
Club — he being the first recorded foreigner ad- 
mitted to membership — and with this trifling inci- 
dent of the day's travel, the unflattering French 
criticism passed. 

Noisy promulgation had been made of the fact 
that the Roosevelt African expedition was under- 
taken "in the interests of science, and not for butch- 
ery" ; that it would be the high purpose of its leader 
and animating spirit to secure specimens of the 
great mammals which the Smithsonian Institute had 
so long coveted; and that no more game would 
be wantonly sacrificed than just enough to supply 
the hunters with food. Yet the Roosevelt killings 
reported from time to time embraced many insig- 
nificant and harmless creatures, gazelles and 
wilde-beests, which were not important either for 
the museum or the camp; not a few protests went 
up from the cruelty-prevention societies, both in 
this country and in England; and when at last the 
great "faunal naturalist" folded his tent like the 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 107 

Arab, and turned his back on the African plains, 
the scene of his scientific and philanthropic labors 
was featured by the caricaturists like "the valley 
of dead bones" in Ezekiel's vision. 

Most likely the truth will never be known as to 
how many wild creatures perished in that expedi- 
tion, nor whose hand brought them down — nor 
does it greatly matter. If the published accounts 
of the methods of pursuing the game were at all 
accurate, the conclusion is inevitable that the only 
danger in it for anybody was incurred by the Afri- 
can natives, who were employed to go into the 
jungles and thickets, and roust out the ferocious 
beasts, in order that these highly civilized and 
highly protected sportsmen might take a safe and 
sane shot at them in the open. I recall a heroic 
episode in one of the press dispatches about T. R. 
saving the lives of two negro natives engaged in 
this perilous business of disturbing the animals in 
their native lairs; and it let in a flood of light 
(needless to say, this was not the purpose of the 
dispatch) on the question as to whose lives were be- 
ing jeopardized in this scientific sport — aside from 
the wild beasts, of course. Again, it is somewhat 
difficult of belief that a man so near-sighted as the 
Colonel, of whom it is said he has to put on his 
glasses to eat his soup, could attain such skill and 
win such prestige as a marksman; but this is no 
greater strain upon our credulity than many other 



io8 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

exploits claimed for him by the adulators — so we 
will let that pass. One thing only seems quite 
clear, in the light of past and present events, and 
that is : the African hunting trip was undertaken 
not so much for science, nor for sport, as for politi- 
cal effect. 

The Colonel returned to civilization, and the 
peaceful arts of political advertising, on March 14, 
19 10, when he reached Khartoum, Egypt, and 
some days later delivered the address before the 
Cairo University on the Egyptian political situa- 
tion, which — outraging official propriety and the 
amenities of social life — caused a near-riot. 

The bitter friction between the Government 
and the Nationalist Party — wishing to cast off the 
British yoke — which had culminated in the assassi- 
nation of Boutras Pasha Ghaly, the Egyptian 
Prime Minister, had been somewhat allayed by the 
more conciliatory attitude adopted by the Govern- 
ment; and both parties were engaged in a com- 
mendable effort to make the best of an irritating 
situation. Into this tense atmosphere came Col- 
onel Roosevelt, splashed with jungle gore and his 
customary cock-suredness. Undeterred either by 
his ignorance of local complications, or by the ordi- 
nary delicacy of an invited guest seated between 
two warring entertainers, he proceeded in vigorous 
fashion to read the Nationalists a severe lecture 
upon the sin of insubordination; scored the "in- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 109 

decent" sympathizers with the assassin, and ex- 
horted them to "think what a disaster It would be 
If British rule were removed from the Soudan" ! 

Small wonder that the authorities with difficulty 
prevented a riot, and that they watched the depart- 
ure of this novel "scientific expedition" with much 
greater joy than they had welcomed Its arrival. 

According to press dispatches, Mr. Roosevelt, 
while at Gondokoro In February, had written to 
the American ambassador at Rome that he would 
like an audience with King Victor Emmanuel, and 
with the Pope. This was after the Fairbanks inci- 
dent had laid the ecclesiastical world of both con- 
tinents by the ears. Mr. Fairbanks, It will be re- 
called, had been denied an audience with Pope 
Pius X. early in February, when it became known 
that he Intended to deliver an address before the 
Methodist Society In Rome, which, the Catholics 
charged, had gone out of Its way to defame and 
Insult "the holy father." Be that as it may, the 
Catholic feeling against the Methodists in Rome 
was so bitter that His Holiness declined to receive 
any one affiliating with them in any way. 

Since Mr. Fairbanks had already given his 
promise to address the Methodists before receiv- 
ing the Pope's ultimatum, and was, moreover, a 
member of the Methodist household-of-falth, he 
had no option — as a loyal Methodist, and honor- 
able man — but to adhere to his Methodist pro- 



no BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

gram, and withdraw his request for a Papal au- 
dience. And thus the matter ended, after some 
sectarian pow-wow on both sides the Atlantic — 
which settled nothing, except that no future visitor 
to Rome might expect to call on the Pope and the 
Methodist Colony simultaneously. That was the 
one clearly established fact emerging from the con- 
troversy. Mr. Roosevelt heard it, and understood 
it, as well as any one else. When, therefore, with 
this Fairbanks pointer fresh in everybody's mind, 
the Colonel craved an audience with His Holiness, 
the CathoHc authorities were perfectly justified in 
believing that he accepted the condition imposed 
upon his former presidential mate, and upon all 
Protestant rulers of Europe — and elsewhere. 

This view was confirmed by an announcement 
appearing in the press in the interim, that "Mr. 
Roosevelt would call on the holy father when he 
came to Rome, and that he would make no ad- 
dresses of any kind while there" This was con- 
strued by both Protestants and CathoHcs to mean 
that he was steering his craft in Roman waters with 
special reference to avoiding the Fairbanks break- 
ers. 

Whether this press report was authorized by 
Mr. Roosevelt or not is of little consequence. The 
point is, he kneiv the terms upon which he might 
see the Pope, from the first week in February up 
to the last week in March, when he decided it 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS in 

would be a clever political stroke to issue a spec- 
tacular rejection of them. Cardinal Merry del 
Val, the Papal secretary, through whom the nego- 
tiation had been conducted, was naturally aston- 
ished at the sudden turn of affairs; and justly 
complained that Mr. Roosevelt's final decision had 
been given to the press before it was communicated 
to the Vatican — these exchanges concerning audi- 
ences being regarded by the Vatican authorities as 
confidential, and never to be made public. 

At Cairo, on March 23d, Mr. Roosevelt re- 
ceived the telegram which was made the pretext 
for the coup-de-main which was to startle two con- 
tinents. This telegram from the Papal secretary 
ran as follows: "The holy father will be de- 
lighted to grant an audience to Mr. Roosevelt 
on April 5th, and hopes that nothing will arise 
to prevent It, such as the much-regretted incident 
which made the reception of Mr. Fairbanks im- 
possible." 

To this Roosevelt replied — In courteous and 
diplomatic phrasing, it Is true — that he "must de- 
cline to make any stipulations or submit to any 
conditions which would In any way limit his free- 
dom of conduct"; and, after one or two more 
polite exchanges, the proposed Roosevelt audience 
with the Pope was called off; though the matter 
was kept secret until Roosevelt entered Rome on 
April 3d, and then — as before related — it was an- 



112 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

nounced in the press before It was given to the 
Papal secretary. 

There seems no good reason for doubting the 
sincerity of the latter's statement, that the Vatican 
had no intention of Imposing hard or Impossible 
conditions, or of restricting Mr. Roosevelt's per- 
sonal freedom; that the same procedure had been 
adopted In his case as was customary in arranging 
audiences with the Pope; and that the reference to 
the Fairbanks incident in the Papal telegram was 
"merely a friendly Intimation." The Cardinal 
might very properly have added that, but for the 
diplomatic code which renders the recital of many 
superfluous things Imperative, the "friendly intima- 
tion" was also considered a superfluous Intimation, 
since it was taken for granted that Roosevelt knew 
all about the Fairbanks trouble, and what was ex- 
pected of him, If he would avoid a similar dilemma. 

Merry del Val meets the charge of religious In- 
tolerance, in the further statement: "It was not In 
any sense a question of religion; Mr. Roosevelt 
might have gone to his own, or to a Presbyterian, 
or Episcopalian, or any other Protestant church in 
Rome — except the Methodist — and delivered an 
address there; and he would have been received 
by the Pope, even on the same day. But he could 
not be received when it was suspected that, after 
the audience, he Intended to visit the Methodist 
church in Rome, which is carrying on a most of- 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 113 

fenslve campaign of calumny and detraction 
against the pontiff." 

Now, one does not need to agree with this 
Vatican view of the Methodists, nor to espouse 
either side of the Methodist-Romanist imbrogho, 
In order to determine the crux of this Roosevelt- 
Vatican episode; and to see quite clearly, in the 
cold light of the facts, that the Vatican's position 
was consistent and right in the matter, and that 
Roosevelt's difficulty was entirely of his own manu- 
facture. 

To a disinterested on-looker, untinged with sec- 
tarian bias of any hue, this was the situation : Here 
were two warring sects. Whatever the respective 
merits or demerits of the parties to the conflict, it 
was an undisputed fact that the Catholics and 
Methodists in the "eternal city," so far from dwell- 
ing together in the peace and unity enjoined upon 
Christians, were sadly at logger-heads; they ad- 
mitted it themselves, and there was no immediate 
prospect of a truce of hostilities even. Along 
comes a distinguished Individual, who is neither 
Methodist nor Catholic, has no place In the con- 
troversy whatever; has not even been asked to 
enact his favorite role of "interposing his friendly 
offices" — and asks to be presented to the head of 
the Catholic Church, Pope Pius X, who is one of 
the commanding figures in Europe. 

Please bear this In mind : Roosevelt had asked to 



114 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

see the Pope ; the Pope had not asked to see Roose- 
velt. One would think, under the circumstances, 
that ordinary good-breeding, and a knowledge of 
the laws of courtesy, would have sufficiently Indi- 
cated the line of conduct to be pursued. Merry 
del Val's contention, that It was not a question of 
religion, but of etiquette, was perfectly sound; It 
was a question of observing or offending the pro- 
prieties of the Papal court, at whose gate Roosevelt 
was knocking for admission. 

Personally, I place little stress upon the outward 
pomp and circumstance of either pontiffs or kings; 
but. If I esteemed any private Individual sufficiently 
to beg the privilege of calling upon him, or upon 
her, I should hold myself bound by every known 
canon of good taste and good manners to avoid 
offending the sensibilities of mine host, or hostess, 
in any way whatsoever; such, for Instance, as giv- 
ing prominence to the fact that I Intended shortly 
to call on his or her bitterest foe — living just across 
the street, we will say; and as for noisy Insistence 
upon my personal right to consort with their foes 
— well, that would be too vulgar for words ! 

Many persons think that what would be mani- 
festly improper In the case of an individual is still 
more Improper in the case of distinguished officials; 
and certainly we know that all Catholics hold that 
a discourtesy to the Pope greatly Intensifies the 
offence per se. Now, while Mr. Roosevelt is not 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 115 

afflicted with any great amount of innate refine- 
ment, and seldom allows any nice sense of pro- 
priety, or regard for other people's feelings, to 
interfere with his purposes or desires, it cannot be 
argued that he is ignorant of polite usages both in 
private and official life. When he sins against 
these, he sins knowingly. This Vatican incident 
was not the act of a bull-in-a-china-shop. 

Neither can we believe that Mr. Roosevelt 
wished to offend the Catholics. This idea is pre- 
cluded both by the unctuous wording of his cable- 
grams to "the holy father," and by the letter which 
he quickly dispatched to Dr. Abbott In his beloved 
Outlook, but which was really intended for Ameri- 
can voters. In it he makes a pious — almost pa- 
thetic — appeal to his "fellow-Americans, Catholic 
and Protestant" — after he had wantonly set them 
at each other's throats — not to allow this "merely 
personal incident" between himself and the Pope 
to be made the occasion for bitter sectarian wrang- 
ling; which recalls the story of the man who turned 
the bear loose in the streets, and then called on his 
neighbors to "come, help catch it, quick!" One 
sentence from this patriotic Outlook letter is so 
touching and so inspiring that one feels it should 
be inscribed (in illuminated text) on the "Bull 
Moose" banners, in these piping campaign days of 
1912 : "It would cause me a real pang to have any- 
thing said or done that would hurt or give pain to 



ii6 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

my friends, whatever their religious belief, but any 
merely personal considerations are of no conse- 
quence in this matter." This may at least be war- 
ranted — should he encounter it — to deepen the 
smile on the blond features of the Hon. William 
Howard Taft. 

If further proof were needed of Mr. Roose- 
velt's regard for American Catholics, it may be 
found in a statement made by the Hon. Paul Mor- 
ton (himself a Catholic) at a White House dinner 
given to capital and labor leaders November 12, 
1904: "It is a notable fact, without an important 
exception, that the Catholic press of the United 
States supported President Roosevelt in the election 
just passed" ; and in another statement from Father 
Hannan, pastor of St. Martin's Church at Wash- 
ington, D. C, spoken in his pulpit just after the 
Rome incident in April, 1910, that "Roosevelt was 
the first Republican President who polled the great 
Catholic vote in America." 

Of course, Mr. Roosevelt loves American Cath- 
olics, and every other class of Americans with votes 
to register. (The only exception to this, to date, 
being the case of Southern negroes; but this is too 
recent to get the true perspective yet.) 

The question naturally arises: Why was Mr. 
Roosevelt willing to risk losing his Catholic sup- 
port in the United States through the faux pas at 
Rome in 19 10? 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 117 

If he were unwilling to comply with the stipula- 
tion with respect to the Methodists, which he knew 
beforehand would be made, why did he ask to go 
to the Vatican at all? Yet, having asked and re- 
ceived assent — with the "friendly intimation" — 
why did he choose to disregard the latter, and raise 
the question of his "personal liberty," which was 
not at all at issue? His case was not analogous to 
that of Mr. Fairbanks; he was not a Methodist, 
nor had he been asked to address the Methodists; 
they stated afterward that they had no intention 
of embarrassing him with such an invitation. The 
way was open and clear for him to visit the Pope 
if he wished it. Did he wish it? If so, why raise 
this senseless obstacle? Evidently he had wished 
to see the Pope when he preferred the request in 
February. What had occurred to alter his de- 
sire? 

With one of T. R.'s duplex and complex per- 
sonality, one must delve for motives. Surface in- 
dications are never trustworthy. Probably the best 
sidelight on this Vatican-Roosevelt episode is fur- 
nished by a sermon preached in the Foundry Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church at Washington, D. C, on 
March 13, 19 10, by the Rev. Bishop Earl Cran- 
ston, head of all the Northern Methodist congre- 
gations. 

In this fervid discourse, which was entitled "The 
Church and the Government," the Reverend Bis- 



ii8 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

hop virtually flung down the gage of battle to the 
Holy See, and raised the standard of revolt to the 
Republican Party. Catholics might say there was 
nothing new about the first part of the Bishop's 
program, but those acquainted with the political 
history of the country must concede that it would 
be "going some" for Northern Methodists to de- 
sert the Republican standards. "Leaders who deal 
largely in poHtical craft," declared the Bishop, 
"need just now an admonition. The people are not 
being fooled all the time that they are silent. They 
may be too busy to write letters, but they know 
there is now no vital issue between the great parties, 
no moral issue except that involved in keeping 
party pledges. Protestanism has not figured largely 
in the calculations of politicians, because it has been 
a divided force. They think we'll vote the ticket 
anyhow" — and here the preacher paused impress- 
ively, and swept the congregation with a significant 
smile which said plainer than words, "We'll show 
them something different!" 

Bishop Cranston is probably the most powerful 
Protestant ecclesiastic in the country. He is an 
able scholar, an effective preacher, a winning per- 
sonality, a life-long Republican, and withal a 
kindly, lovable old man. His word would carry as 
much or more weight, not only to the Methodists, 
but to all Protestant America, than any other 
churchman in it. He left Washington immediately 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 119 

after preaching that sermon, to travel the rounds 
of his circuit, and everywhere he reiterated its pur- 
port, and sounded the tocsin for Protestant resist- 
ance to Papal encroachments in American politics. 
Rumors began to circulate also about a "Protestant 
Federal Council, or League," composed of all de- 
nominations, with headquarters at Washington, 
whose purpose was to keep tab on political ma- 
neuvres with the "hierarchy." 

Inevitably the wireless currents carried the news 
of all this across the African seas, and the Past 
Grand Master of American politics had been re- 
flecting on it some days when he received the mes- 
sage from Cardinal Merry del Val, that His Holi- 
ness would be pleased to receive him — with the 
"friendly intimation." So here was his opportunity 
to disarm American Protestants, and he would take 
a chance on appeasing American Catholics. The 
Rev. Mr. Tipple's too hasty felicitation on the 
event enabled the Colonel almost immediately to 
turn his favorite trick of "playing both ends 
against the middle," by calling off the reception he 
had planned to give the American Colony — as a 
direct rebuke to the Methodists for allowing the 
Rev. Tipple to "talk too much." 

From the chorus of applause from the Protest- 
ant clergy on this side the water, T. R. must have 
been vastly pleased with the success of the Protest- 
ant end of his double coup. I was much amused 



I20 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

by the ringing words of praise for Roosevelt's 
"fearlessness and frankness" from one of these rev- 
erend gentlemen who, some time before the Vatican 
incident, had discussed with me Roosevelt's con- 
genital untruthfulness, and, to illustrate, had told 
me a story of his having been unanimously elected 
to the Ananias Club by a company of physicians at 
Washington — so much for the warring zeal of op- 
posing sectaries. 

The only noteworthy incident of T. R.'s visit to 
Paris was the address he had been invited to make 
before the Sorbonne, wherein the French savants 
were treated to such startling pronouncements as, 
"Educated men know more than ignorant men! 
Peace is not so bloody as war! The rich are not 
the poor! Race suicide is one cause of depopula- 
tion" — and, having tapped this prolific theme, the 
Roosevelt eloquence flowed glibly on to its close, 
while Parisian matrons listened aghast, marveling 
at the idiosyncrasies of American ex-Presidents. 

At Berlin the Kaiser paid him the unwonted 
compliment of allowing him to review the German 
troops, and T. R. signalized his appreciation of the 
honor by declaring that "the German Army is the 
greatest university in the world!" 

The Guildhall speech, made after he had been 
given the freedom of the city of London, was the 
grand climacteric effort of T. R.'s European 
speech-making. In this, among other things, he 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 121 

condemned the policy of the British Governinent 
in Egypt as weak and sentimental, and exhorted 
John Bull to either lay on with the Big Stick, or 
clear out of Egypt altogether! It seemed to be 
the concensus of opinion — at home and abroad — 
that, for sheer ignorance, bad manners, and colossal 
effrontery, the Guildhall speech — in the graphic 
language of Huckleberry Finn — "laid over" all the 
Colonel's previous European stunts. Even his ad- 
miring friend, the late W. T. Stead, observed, in 
sorrow, that this speech "brought about a bad 
slump in the value of Roosevelt as a preacher of 
righteousness." 

Nevertheless, Mr. Stead ventures the prediction : 
"After being feted everywhere as the greatest liv- 
ing American, he will return to his native land cov- 
ered with laurels and laden with the trophies of the 
chase, and will — unless something unforeseen hap- 
pens — be nominated, against his emphatic protest, 
with enthusiasm for a new presidential term of 
office." We can only hope that Mr. Stead was as 
bad a prophet as he was a judge of T. R.'s unwill- 
ingness to accept a new presidential term. Yet 
Stead was not the only European editor who was 
predicting further lease of power for the ex-Presi- 
dent. Nearly all the London organs, and several 
Berlin and Paris papers, seemed to be perfectly 
satisfied that Mr. Roosevelt was marked out for 
another term in the White House, 



122 BULL MOOSE TRAILS 

In fact Colonel Roosevelt returned to his native 
land with a European nomination for the presi- 
dency ! Was it that some adroit press agent whis- 
pered it in the European ear? Or is the European 
mind more susceptible to impressions by mental 
suggestion ? 

Colonel Roosevelt's unobtrusive manner of pass- 
ing through European capitals, inspired a fellow 
army officer on this side to pen the following verses, 
which were read at a social function on Governor's 
Island, the night of July i6, 19 lo: 

INCOGNITO 

The shades of night were falling fast, 
As through a town in Europe passed 
A quiet man with stealthy tread. 
Who now and then in whisper said, 
Incognito ! 

Before him blared a big brass band, 
He shot off guns with either hand; 
A red torch flared above his head. 
And as he cheered, again he said. 
Incognito ! 

He wore a sash, red, white, and blue, 
At times he beat a bass drum, too; 
And then he stood upon his head. 
As with a wink again he said, 
Incognito ! 



BULL MOOSE TRAILS 123 

"Is that your name?" the old man cried; 
He waved the questioner aside, 
"Begone! the query gives me dread, 
I'm traveling, you see," he said, 
Incognito ! 

"Stay!" cried a maid, "Aren't you T. R., 
The mighty hunter from afar?" 
The stranger flushed and hung his head, 
"I'm trying hard to keep," he said, 
Incognito I 

Where'er he went 'twas just the same, 
But when they asked him for his name, 
He would not mention it; instead. 
He tried to ride away, and said, 
Incognito I 

And then as through the land he passed. 
And when he sailed for home at last. 
Nobody knew the strange man's name. 
Nobody knew from whence he came ; 
His modest ways, his cringing mien 
Left memories calm and most serene; 
And if you ask the people there. 
Just who he was, with puzzled air 
Each one will say, and shake his head. 
He never told, he only said. 
Incognito ! 



SEP' li i-'^ 



